51黑料

51黑料 University will make its debut in the NCAA softball tournament on Friday in Fayetteville, Arkansas, playing the host Razorbacks, the fourth seed overall in the tournament.

SLU (34-22) will face the Razorbacks (40-12) at 5:30 p.m. in a game carried on ESPN+. The other two teams in the four-team, double-elimination bracket are Indiana and Oklahoma State, one of which will be SLU鈥檚 opponent in the second round.

Arkansas finished fifth in the Southeastern Conference in the regular season, as 14 of the 15 softball-playing teams in the SEC made the NCAAs, all except Missouri. Nine SEC teams are among the 16 seeded teams in the tournament.

鈥淲hen you get to this point, you鈥檙e here for a reason,鈥� said SLU coach Christy Connoyer. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e hot. Things are going your way. There鈥檚 a momentum piece. There are teams that their body of work have gotten them a top 16 seed or a top eight seed. Their body of work has done that, there鈥檚 no doubt. And then there鈥檚 team that come in winning a conference tournament and finding ways to do it, and I think confidence and momentum are big right now. ... I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 an intimidation factor because they鈥檙e already asking for the scouting report.鈥�

SLU got an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament by beating Fordham twice on Saturday to win the Atlantic 10 tournament in Washington, D.C. It鈥檚 the first trip for SLU to the NCAA tournament for a program that began play in 1978. Connoyer has been coaching the team since 2011.

The team gathered at the Champions Center on campus to watch the announcement of the bracket for the 64-team tournament, and the players erupted in excitement when their name was announced.

鈥淲e鈥檙e just excited,鈥� said catcher Abby Mallo, who drove in the game-winning run in the winner-take-all championship game Saturday. 鈥淥ur season goes on for another week, so we get to spend every day with each other and just really take it all in. Bring it on. Bring it on. We did 15 wins in a row. What鈥檚 four more?鈥�