HUNTSVILLE | The University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team will open up the 2014 NCAA Division II Softball South 1 Regional on Friday when the top-seeded UAH hosts eighth-seeded Tuskegee at Charger Park at 1:30 p.m.
 
The Chargers are making their 12th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, and the program is hosting a regional for the fifth time in the last six seasons. UAH has played 80 games in the national postseason event and boasts a 48-32 record.
 
Of the teams in the field this weekend in the Rocket City, UAH has only played Rollins in the tournament and has posted a 4-2 record against the Tars with the most recent meetings coming at the NCAA South 1 Regional in 2012 at Valdosta State when the Chargers took the first contest 3-2 before Rollins eliminated UAH from the tournament with a 4-2 decision.
 
UAH enters the national tournament with a 43-9 record on the season while owning the eighth-position in the most recent NFCA Division II Softball Top 25 Poll. The Chargers finished second a weekend ago at the Gulf South Conference Softball Championships, going 4-2 en route to reaching the championship game where the team fell to Valdosta State.
 
Three Chargers are batting at .400 or better to give UAH a team batting average that ranks ninth in Division II at .348. Macie Couey is leading the team with an impressive .469 average as she has a team-best 82 hits, while Mary Kelley is hitting .407 and Victoria Frith is batting right at .400 on the year.
 
Kelley also owns a team-high 66 RBI on the year.
 
UAH's first opponent in the tournament will be the Golden Tigers from Tuskegee – a team that UAH swept a doubleheader from earlier in the season. The Chargers won 8-0 and 9-0, and Kaitlyn Bannister led the team on the day with four hits, two runs, and two RBI in the two games combined.
 
The Golden Tigers finished the year at 29-14 and won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship, finishing the season with wins in 10 of their last 12 games. The squad is led offensively by Karisa Foye who is hitting .450 on the season, while Latifah Kelly owns a 2.01 ERA to go along with a 16-5 record to pace the team in the circle.
 
The two other teams coming to Huntsville for the South 1 Regional are GSC representative North Alabama who is making its second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and feature a 38-16 record on the season and Rollins who missed out last season on the postseason but returns this year after a 37-11 campaign.
 
Action at the South 1 Regional gets underway when No. 4 seed Rollins squares off with fifth-seeded UNA at 11 a.m. on Friday at Charger Park.