Beth Mowins knew some viewers of ESPN’s NCAA tournament softball selection show would be surprised when Alabama was revealed as the five-seed. Historically, though, one of the bracket’s eight regionals runs has run through Tuscaloosa.

The Crimson Tide is hosting for the 18th straight year, this time welcoming Middle Tennessee, Central Arkansas and Long Island for a shot at the super regionals. The double-elimination bracket starts Friday, May, 19 and will finish Sunday at Rhoads Stadium.

Alabama, which was upset by Stanford a year ago, is looking to host the winner of the Evanston Regional between No. 12 Northwestern, Eastern Illinois, Miami (Ohio) and Kentucky.

Its star pitcher Montana Fouts is currently “day-to-day,” according to coach Patrick Murphy. With Fouts or not, Alabama will first have to knock off the Long Island Sharks (32-24), which entered as a two-seed in the Northeast Conference tournament and survived three rounds in the loser’s bracket to capture coach Roy Kortmann’s 11th NCAA berth in 29 seasons.

“Kortmann has been a friend of mine for years and years,” Murphy said during a Wednesday appearance on The Gary Harris Show on Tide 100.9. “One of the best guys in softball. We’re really, really happy that they’re coming down. … I don’t know much about the team, I’ve watched them on video a little bit.”

The Sharks are led by a pair of redshirt seniors, outfielder Camryn Lyman (team-best .317 average) and catcher Sam Garcia (first-team all-conference). In the circle, pitcher Lindsey Cowans is holding batters to a .205 average with 160 strikeouts in 173.2 innings.

Similarly to LIU, the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears (44-10) won five straight contests to capture its conference title, the ASUN. Pitcher Jordan Johnson was 37th in the country in ERA (1.64) with seven shutouts and a 13-0 record, including one win over Arkansas in March. Infielder Morgan Nelson also smashed 12 home runs and 42 RBI.

“We’re the at-large, but those three won their league. So they earned their way in,” Murphy said. ” … Central Arkansas had a hell of a year. … They have two good pitchers. … They’re resilient. They’re always right in the mix every single year.”

Middle Tennessee (39-18) had games scheduled against both LIU and Central Arkansas this season. It fell to LIU, 7-2, and a March 22 matchup against Central Arkansas was canceled. Sophomore middle infielder Laura Mealer led C-USA in hits (66), slugging (.720) and on-base percentage (.487).

SCHEDULE

Game 1: Middle Tennessee – Central Arkansas, 3:30 p.m., Friday, May 19

Game 2: Long Island – Alabama, 6 p.m., Friday

Game 3: Game 1 Winner – Game 2 Winner, 12 p.m., Saturday, May 20

Game 4: Game 1 Loser – Game 2 Loser, 2:30 p.m., Saturday (ELIMINATION GAME)

Game 5: Game 4 Winner – Game 3 Loser, 5 p.m., Saturday (ELIMINATION GAME)

Game 6: Game 3 Winner – Game 5 Winner, 1 p.m., Sunday, May 21

Game 7: Rematch from Game 6 if both teams have one loss, Sunday (DOUBLE ELIMINATION GAME)

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].