FLORENCE, SC – Francis Marion University will serve as host for the 2008 Peach Belt Conference Softball Tournament, Friday through Sunday (April 18-20) at the Freedom Florence Recreational Complex.
Daily admission will be ages 13 and above $5, ages 6-12 $3, and ages under 6 free.
The double-elimination event gets underway on Friday with three games at noon and two contests at 2 p.m. Action resumes on Saturday with three games at 11 a.m. and continues with two games at 1 p.m., two games at 3 p.m., and a pair of starts at 5 p.m. The two remaining losers’ bracket teams will play at 1 p.m. on Sunday with the winner advancing to the championship game at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Scores will be available through the Peach Belt website at http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/index
Nationally fifth-ranked UNC Pembroke (43-10), after winning its first PBC regular-season championship, will be the No.1 seed in the tournament. The Lady Braves, winners of 12 straight games, will take the field at 2 p.m on Friday and meet the winner of No.8 Augusta State University (27-17) and No.9 Lander University (12-35), who play at noon.
Eighteenth-ranked Francis Marion (30-11) was part of a three-way tie for the fourth place, along with North Georgia College & State University (31-11) and Columbus State University (21-16), all with 10-8 conference marks. Following the conference tie-breakers, North Georgia earned the fourth-seed, CSU the fifth seed, and FMU the sixth seed.
Francis Marion will meet third-seeded Georgia College & State University (35-11), which is coached by former FMU player and graduate Ginger Miller Chaffinch, on Friday at 2 p.m.
In addition to the ASU/Lander contest, the other two contests set for noon are North Georgia playing Columbus State and second-seeded Armstrong Atlantic State University (26-17) facing seventh-seeded USC Aiken (22-27).
The tournament winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II National Tournament.
Francis Marion and GC&SU split their regular-season doubleheader in Milledgeville, Ga., with the Bobcats taking game one 3-2 in 10 innings and the Patriots winning the second game 6-3.
Sophomore southpaw Michaela Wolf leads the Patriot pitching staff with a 21-8 record and a 1.79 earned run average. She is tied for the PBC lead in victories. Junior shortstop Shannan Tyson leads the FMU hitters with a .411 average, fourth-best in the Peach Belt. Sophomore outfielder Jessica Birchmeier is batting .400 with a team-best 40 runs batted in, while senior first baseman Monica Wofford is hitting .383 with seven home runs and 34 RBIs.
FMU has lost its last four PBC Tournament games dating back to the opening round of the 2006 event in Aiken. The Patriots have an all-time record of 20-26 in tournament play with their best finish coming in 2004 when they got to within one game of the title contest. FMU previously hosted the 1997 tournament.
The top seed has won three of the past four tournaments, and Columbus State is the three-time defending tournament champion.
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