SAINT LEO, Fla, | The University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team will open up play the 2018 NCAA South Super Regional on Thursday, playing under an altered schedule due to forecast concerns.
 
The two teams will play twice on Thursday with the first game slated for a 10 a.m. CDT start and the second game will follow approximately 30 minutes afterwards.
 
If a third game is necessary, it will be played on Friday at a time that would be determined.
 
The Chargers are the No. 4 seed in the tournament and enter the Super Regional at 38-16 on the season, while the Lions have earned the hosting position in this round as the No. 3 seed and are 35-15 going into play this week.
 
Last week at the South 1 Regional, the Chargers advanced after beating Valdosta State 11-6, and the team then advanced to the final of the regional with a 5-3 win over Palm Beach Atlantic. After PBA forced the if necessary winner-take-all contest with a 3-0 victory, UAH bounced back and moved on with a decisive 5-1 victory.
 
At North Alabama at the South 2 Regional, SLU rolled straight through with a 3-0 win over Embry-Riddle followed by a pair of 2-1 victories over host and top-seed UNA.
 
UAH is making its first Super Regional appearance since 2014 when the team advanced to the round for a second straight season. Both berths resulted in VSU winning in three games.
 
Offense continues to be the top story of the season for the Chargers who are batting .345 as a team, and the squad features a .566 slugging percentage thanks to 90 doubles, 15 triples, and 67 home runs – numbers which all rank among the top three as a team in the Gulf South Conference.
 
By contrast, pitching is Saint Leo's No. 1 strength as the squad features a team ERA of 1.91. Alison Mitts has a team-low 1.51 ERA to go along with her 13-8 record, and she has struck out 113 batters in 143.1 innings. Auria Mounts has won a team-best 15 games while registering a 1.96 ERA, and she has struck out 89 while holding opposing batters to a .204 average.
 
The two teams met earlier in the year in the season's first weekend with Saint Leo winning 9-1 in six innings, and that win was just SLU's fifth all-time against UAH as the Chargers 22-5 in 27 meetings including a perfect 5-0 mark against the Lions in the NCAA tournament.
 
This will mark the third straight season that the teams have met in the NCAA tournament with the Chargers winning 3-0 in Florence in 2016, and UAH eliminated the Lions 9-7 at SLU a year ago.