Spartans claim No. 4 seed at Southern Conference Championship

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - UNC Greensboro's softball team has earned the No. 4 seed in the Southern Conference Championship, the league office announced Monday. The Spartans will take on top-seeded Chattanooga in the first round Thursday.

The Spartans (25-28, 12-11 SoCon) finished the regular season tied for fourth in the conference standings with Furman, which lost to Georgia Southern on Monday to fall to 12-11 in league play. UNCG holds the tiebreaker over the Paladins by virtue of its 2-1 series win earlier in the season, and thus gained the final spot in the four-team tournament.

UNCG's fourth-place finish is its highest since 2003, when it finished second. The Spartans also turned in their first winning league record since that season.

UNCG and tournament-host Chattanooga will square off Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at Frost Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn. Second-seeded Elon and third-seeded Georgia Southern will kick off the double-elimination tournament at 11 a.m. that day.

Southern Conference Championship schedule
Thursday
G1: No. 2 Elon vs. No. 3 Georgia Southern, 11 a.m.
G2: No. 1 Chattanooga vs. No. 4 UNCG, 1:30 p.m.
G3: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 5 p.m.
G4: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 7:30 p.m.

Friday
G5: Loser of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 3, 11 a.m.
G6: Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 1:30 p.m.
G7 (if necessary): Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6, 30 minutes after Game 6

- UNCG -