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HUNTSVILLE | The No. 12 University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team will start the next leg of its postseason journey on Friday, opening up play at the NCAA South 1 Regional in Valdosta, Georgia, as the fifth seed taking on fourth-seeded Shorter at 3:30 p.m. CDT.
 
The tournament appearance marks the 13th consecutive for the Chargers, and it is the 18th in the program's 20-year history.
 
"We're proud to continue in the tradition of the 17 teams that have made the postseason," said UAH head coach Les Stuedeman who earlier this season recorded her 900th career win. "But we're thinking about this weekend. It's just a daunting task. You're going down there knowing that if you don't show up, you're not going to have a chance to advance."
 
Three of the four teams at the Valdosta portion of the regional were featured in the national rankings heading into the tournament.
 
UAH earned an at-large selection to the tournament after posting a 39-14 record during the season including a 2-2 showing at last weekend's GSC tournament that was also held in Valdosta, and it was Friday's opponent that won the title including a 3-1 win over the Chargers that eliminated UAH from the event.
 
That win for Shorter leveled the season series with both teams having won twice after UAH took a pair in a three-game set back in early March in Huntsville.
 
Abby Roberts – who was named to the All-Tournament Team last week – has enjoyed playing Shorter, batting a team-best .600 in the four games, while GSC Player of the Year Kaitlyn Bannister has six RBI against the Hawks on the strength of two of her GSC-high 12 home runs.
 
Top-seeded Valdosta State will take on eighth-seeded Tuskegee in the other contest on the opening day of the South 1 Regional, while No. 3 seed North Alabama is welcoming second-seeded Rollins, No. 6 seed Florida Tech, and seventh-seeded Tampa to the South 2 Regional this weekend in Florence, Alabama.
 
The two winners of the double-elimination regionals will then meet next week at the highest seeded remaining for the best-of-three South Super Regional with a berth to the Division II National Championships on the line.