BATON ROUGE — The LSU softball team will begin defense of its Southeastern Conference Tournament title on Thursday when the third-seeded Tigers face sixth-seeded Auburn on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Tiger Park.
The SEC Tournament will be held at Tiger Park the first time this season. The three-day single-elimination tournament will determine the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. Fans can purchase all tickets online at LSUsports.net, at the ticket office or by calling 578-2184 or (800) 960-8587.
Tournament books are available for $20 each for adults and $10 each for youth between the ages of 3 and 12. All children under three get into Tiger Park for free. In addition, single-game tickets are available at a cost of $5 for adults and $3 for youth.
LSU (41-15, 17-11 SEC) earned the third seed after run-ruling South Carolina on the road on Sunday, 9-0. The Tigers finished percentage points ahead of fourth-seeded Tennessee, which lost to Florida on Sunday. Auburn (37-19, 13-14 SEC) moved up to the sixth seed after sweeping Kentucky this weekend. AU finished tied with Mississippi State in the final standings, but earned the sixth seed because Auburn won the season series from the Bulldogs.
In other tournament action at Tiger Park on Thursday, fourth-seeded Tennessee will open play against fifth-seeded Georgia at 11 a.m., followed by top-seeded Florida taking on eighth-seeded Ole Miss at 1:30 p.m. The night session will begin with second-seeded Alabama taking on seventh-seeded Mississippi State at 5 p.m.
If LSU can defeat Auburn in the first round, the purple and gold will advance to take on the winner of the Alabama-Mississippi State game on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The championship game will be played on Saturday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. and televised on Fox Sports.
The Tigers have now participated in all 12 conference tournaments in the league’s history. LSU owns a 33-11 overall record in SEC Tournament play, and have won the tournament a conference-record five times ? 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2007. The Tigers have advanced through the tournament into the championship game in eight of the last nine seasons, including last year when LSU defeated Florida, 1-0, in nine innings.
During the regular season, LSU swept the series from Auburn at Tiger Park. The purple and gold won the first game easily, 8-1. LSU came from behind to earn a 5-3 win in 10 innings of game two on a walk-off home run by Killian Roessner. The purple and gold capped the series with a 10-0 run-rule win in six innings.
All of the Tigers’ postseason games will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network in Baton Rouge on The X – 104.5/104.9 FM and on the internet in the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net. In addition, live stats for all SEC Tournament games can be found on LSUsports.net.
2008 SEC Softball Tournament
Day One – Thursday, May 8
Game 1 # 4 Tennessee vs. # 5 Georgia 11 a.m.
Game 2 # 1 Florida vs. # 8 Ole Miss 1:30 p.m.
Game 3 # 2 Alabama vs. # 7 Mississippi State 5 p.m.
Game 4 # 3 LSU vs. # 6 Auburn 7:30 p.m.
Day Two – Friday, May 9
Game 5 Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner 5 p.m.
Game 6 Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner 7:30 p.m.
Day Three – Saturday, May 10
Game 7 Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner 12:30 p.m. (Fox Sports)