LIVE STATS | LIVE AUDIO (JOINED IN PROGRESS AT 6:50 P.M.)
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team will make its 11th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament on Friday when it hosts West Alabama in the South 2 Regional at 5:30 p.m. at Charger Park.
 
Providing the field with three teams from Alabama, North Alabama will play Barry from Miami Shores, Fla., at 3 p.m. on the opening day of the double-elimination event.
 
“We are so proud to have earned the right to host at Charger Park,” said the 2013 Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year Les Stuedeman whose team will enter the weekend with a 39-15 record. “UAH has put so much into the facility, and this is a great way to show it off.”
 
Two years removed from a national championship game appearance and a year since winning just one game at this event last year in Valdosta, Ga., the Chargers enter the weekend on a stretch of strong play that really began all the way back in March.
 
UAH began the season at 8-8, uncharacteristically slow for a team that has only once in its previous 17 seasons not recorded at least 40 wins. However, the Chargers have a record of 31-7 in the more than two months since, led by the big bat of senior catcher Cortney McNett who is hitting an impressive .440 on the season.
 
McNett – an All-American a season ago – was named the Most Outstanding Player at last week's GSC tournament where the Chargers finished second after driving in 13 runs in six games including a 2-for-3 showing with 5 RBIs in an elimination game against UNA.
 
That North Alabama team – at one point in line to host this half of the region field as the Lions were No. 2 in the first two editions of the South Region rankings -- has ended the season on a slide, dropping six of seven including three games to the Chargers. UNA, however, put together a strong enough resume with its 39-18 record to earn the No. 3 seed while reaching the tournament for just the second time in program history.
 
Barry (32-18) finished third in the Sunshine State Conference and will be the No. 6 seed, while seventh-seeded West Alabama (30-18) is in the tournament for the third year in a row. In 2011, UWA met the Chargers in the South Super Regional at Huntsville, taking the first of the best-of-three series before falling in the next two games.
 
“This is such a strong and even field,” said Stuedeman. “We have our strongest in-state rivals here. It's going to be high drama and great Division II softball.”
 
The South 1 Regional is being hosted by top-seed Valdosta State who will welcome fourth-seeded Tampa, No. 5 seed Saint Leo, and No. 8 seed Albany State.
 
Friday's game will be joined in progress at 6:50 p.m. on 97.7 The Zone in the Tennessee Valley.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow the Chargers on Facebook (facebook.com/uahchargers) and on Twitter (@uahchargers), and supporters of the Blue and White may sign up for text and e-mail updates at uahchargers.com.