Middle Tennessee Hosts 2007 Sun Belt Softball Tournament

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee State University will host the 2007 Sun Belt Conference Softball Tournament at the MTSU Softball Complex in Murfreesboro, Tenn. beginning on Wednesday, May 9th with four opening round match-ups.

Florida Atlantic clinched the top seed in this week's tournament during the weekend and accomplished the feat in its first season as a member of the Sun Belt Conference. Perennial power Louisiana-Lafayette earned the second seed, followed by Troy at No. 3, and Middle Tennessee wraps up the top four seeds.

The eight-team tournament field will be divided into two four-team brackets playing a double-elimination format. The winner of each bracket will then meet Saturday at 3 p.m. for the SBC Championship.

Troy (39-19, 15-9) will face No. 6 seed Western Kentucky (28-30, 11-13) in the first game of the tournament Wednesday at 10 a.m., followed by No. 2 Louisiana-Lafayette (46-14, 15-8) and No. 7 North Texas (21-34, 10-14) at 12:30. The third game of the day will pit top-seed Florida Atlantic (36-22, 16-8) against No. 8 Florida International (21-33, 9-14) at 3 p.m.

Host Middle Tennessee (28-28, 14-9) will take the field for the final game of the day when it faces No. 5 South Alabama (36-21, 12-11) Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The Blue Raiders are hosting their first conference softball championship since 2000 and, ironically, that is the only year Middle Tennessee has won a conference tournament title and advanced into the NCAA Tournament.

The eight participating teams will gather for a pre-tournament banquet and awards ceremony Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The league's All-Sun Belt Conference teams will be announced at this banquet.

Tournament action will continue all day Thursday and Friday, with the championship taking place Saturday afternoon.

Tickets will be on sale at the MTSU Softball Complex throughout the tournament. A tournament pass valid for all games will be available for $15. Daily tickets are available for $5. Students of Sun Belt Conference institutions get in free with a valid school ID.

All games of the 2007 Sun Belt Softball Tournament will be streamed live with video on www.sunbeltsports.org for $9.95.

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