Auburn softball may not be hosting a regional but they will be getting a chance for some revenge. For the second-straight season, they will be heading to the Clemson Regional to take on the No. 16 seed Clemson Tigers.
Auburn finished the regular season third in the SEC with a 15-9 record in conference play and a 40-17 overall record but was not one of the five SEC schools chosen host. Auburn faced three of the SEC schools chosen to host and beat both No. 10 seed LSU and No. 5 seed Alabama two games to one. They dropped their series against No. 14 seed Georgia.
According to The Plainsman’s Matthew Wallace, Auburn is the first SEC school to win 15 conference games and not host a regional since Kentucky and LSU in 2012.
They will be joined by Cal State Fullerton and UNC-Greensboro in Clemson. Auburn is set to face Cal State Fullerton Friday in their first game of the regional. The first pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CT and it will be on ESPN+.
The Titans have a 33-19 record and finished second in the Big West Conference.
“No matter who you face in postseason, they are going to be a talented team,” said head coach [autotag]Mickey Dean[/autotag]. “We’ve got to show up and play clean softball. We’ve been there before. We know what to expect as far as the stadium and the crowd noise. There’s some disappointment, but there is a lot of criteria that the committee goes over to make their decisions. You’ve got to brush that all aside and get ready to play.”
The winner of that game will face off against the winner of Clemson (46-9) and UNC-Greensboro (37-20) for a spot in the championship. The regional is double-elimination with the winner advancing to face the winner of the Norman Regional, which features No. 1 Oklahoma, Hofstra, Missouri and Cal.
Ticket information, times and broadcast information will be announced for the rest of the bracket at a later date.
[mm-video type=video id=01gzcgrg99gnb1s8k7na playlist_id=01eqbyzb4ahnasj2m3 player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gzcgrg99gnb1s8k7na/01gzcgrg99gnb1s8k7na-b0d038f2d8e3c9239a66d835472040a2.jpg]
[lawrence-auto-related count=2 category=692566218]
Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow JD on Twitter @jdmccarthy15.