South Alabama is back in the NCAA softball tournament and back in Gainesville.

The Jaguars earned the No. 2 seed for the NCAA Gainesville Regional on Sunday, their first trip to the tournament since 2021 when they also played on the University of Florida campus in the postseason. South Alabama (32-18-1) will face No. 3 seed Florida Atlantic (41-14) at 1:30 p.m. on Friday at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.

Top-seeded Florida (46-12) meets fourth-seeded Florida Gulf Coast (37-19) in the other first-round regional game at 11 a.m. Friday on the SEC Network. The Gators, national champions in 2014 and 2015 and SEC tournament champions this year, are the No. 4 national seed.

South Alabama lost in the semifinals of the Sun Belt tournament on Friday, but was apparently an easy choice for an at-large berth to the NCAA regionals. The Jaguars finished with an RPI of 31 nationally and recorded victories over SEC powers Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Arizona this season, plus a tie with nationally ranked Arizona.

South Alabama is in the NCAA tournament for the sixth time in program history, but has never advanced past the regional round. The Jaguars went 1-2 in their last NCAA trip to Gainesville, beating Baylor before losing to Florida and South Florida.

FAU was the American Athletic Conference regular-season co-champion, but lost to Wichita State in their AAC tournament opener last Friday. The Owls — a former member of the Sun Belt Conference — are in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2016.

South Alabama’s NCAA regional opener vs. FAU will stream live via ESPN+.