SAINT LEO, Fla. | The University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team will open up play in its 15th straight NCAA tournament on Thursday when the third-seeded team takes on the No. 6 seed Lee at 2 p.m. CDT on the campus of Saint Leo University.
 
The Chargers enter the double-elimination tournament at 41-15, while the Flames own a 33-18 mark.
 
UAH put together a strong regular season to set itself up for this national postseason berth, including a 24-9 record in Gulf South Conference play that earned the team the regular season crown in a league that boasts six selections – the maximum possible – in the two South Regionals.
 
The Chargers also finished the season strong, winning eight in a row and reaching the championship game at the GSC tournament before having their streak snapped by a red-hot Mississippi College team.
 
The team continues to be led by the GSC Player of the Year and the GSC Pitcher of the Year in Kaitlyn Bannister and Tyler Harrison, respectively, as both were named to the all-tournament team last weekend.
 
Bannister moved into a tie for the nation's lead in home runs as she belted three in the conference tournament to move her season total to 21, and she is also tied atop the national ledger with 70 RBI. Harrison is second in the region and 24th in the country with 176 strikeouts on the year, and she has allowed only 0.85 walks per seven innings which is the 18th-best mark in the country.
 
The pair is part of a senior class that has reached four NCAA tournaments including a Super Regional in 2014, and they have gone 8-7 in the national postseason to help the program feature an impressive 56-39 mark in 19 overall appearances.
 
The program's 20th appearance in the national tournament will start by facing a Lee team that the Chargers took two of three from in the first weekend of GSC action back on Feb. 18 and 19.
 
The Flames feature two players that lead the team with 45 RBI each in Abby McKinney and Brooklynn Frazier, and Frazier has hit a team-high eight home runs on the year. In the circle, Taylor Moran has excelled, going 11-5 with a 1.39 ERA while striking out 84 and walking just 21.
 
Play at the South 2 Regional will begin at 11 a.m. CDT on Thursday when the second-seeded host Saint Leo takes on the No. 7 seed North Alabama. The two winners will play at 11 a.m. CDT on Friday followed by the two losers 2 p.m. CDT.