South Alabama is the No. 3 seed for the Sun Belt Conference softball tournament, which begins Wednesday on the campus of Texas State.

The Jaguars finished the regular season at 31-17-1 overall and 16-8 in Sun Belt play, two games back of second-place Texas State and four games back of first-place Louisiana. South Alabama won two of three from Southern Miss this past week at Jaguar Field, winning 5-4 on Thursday and 6-0 on Saturday, but dropping Friday’s middle game by a 5-4 score.

In Sunday’s finale, South Alabama’s Olivia Lackie pitched a one-hit shutout to run her record to 22-7 this season. Jaguars first baseman Gabby Stagner hit her 14th home run, the most in a single season in program history.

“Today was a great way to end the regular season,” South Alabama coach Becky Clark said. “I’m proud of this senior group and all they have accomplished for our program. To have Gabby break the home run record was icing on the cake. We needed this final win going into the tournament and look forward to starting the next round of our season.”

That “next round” begins at 4 p.m. Thursday against sixth-seeded Louisiana-Monroe (31-23, 12-12). The Jaguars swept the Warhawks in Monroe during the regular season, winning 1-0, 10-2 and then 5-4 in a 13-inning marathon.

It’s worth noting that as the No. 3 seed, South Alabama would avoid Louisiana until the championship game. The Ragin’ Cajuns have beaten the Jaguars 26 straight times and have won four consecutive Sun Belt tournaments and six of the last seven.

South Alabama also sits at No. 31 in the all-important RPI rankings, which will go a long way toward determining if the Jaguars can earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Regionals if they don’t win the Sun Belt tournament. Louisiana (No. 14 in the RPI) and Texas State (18) are virtual locks for the 64-team field.

• Troy is the No. 5 tournament seed and faces No. 4 Coastal Carolina at 1 p.m. Thursday.

The Trojans (33-21, 13-11) do carry a bit of momentum into tournament play, having beaten Louisiana 3-0 in last Thursday’s series-opener in Lafayette. Though the Ragin’ Cajuns won 11-7 on Friday and 4-0 on Saturday to take the series, the loss to Troy was one of just two for Louisiana in conference play this season (the other coming at Texas State) and one of only three overall at home.

“What a battle this weekend,” Troy coach Eric Newell said. “Even though we came out on the losing end here in Louisiana, I think we can (hold) our heads high with how we played. Were we perfect, no, but we we won a game here, so I think at the end of this series I think Louisiana is saying, ‘Troy is playing really good softball right now.’

“We took the lead even at the beginning of this game, put up a six spot in the first inning (Friday), and won game one. Even though we got beat on this day, I think we are moving in the right direction long term.”

Troy won two of three from Coastal Carolina (31-20, 14-10) in Conway, S.C., this season, losing the opener 7-4 before rallying to win 13-12 and 8-6 to clinch the series.

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Sun Belt softball tournament 2024 schedule

All times Central

All games streamed live via ESPN+

Wednesday, May 8

Game 1: No. 8 James Madison vs. No. 9 Southern Miss, 4 p.m.

Game 2: No. 7 Georgia Southern vs. No. 10 Marshall, 7 p.m.

Thursday, May 9

Game 3: No. 1 Louisiana vs. Winner Game 1, 10 a.m.

Game 4: No. 4 Coastal Carolina vs. No. 5 Troy, 1 p.m.

Game 5: No. 3 South Alabama vs. No. 6 Louisiana-Monroe, 4 p.m.

Game 6: No. 2 Texas State vs. Winner Game 2, 7 p.m.

Friday, May 10 (semifinals)

Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 4 p.m.

Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 7 p.m.

Saturday, May 11

Championship game, 1 p.m.