ASUN women's softball tournament: Who's playing, how to watch and can anyone beat EKU?

The ASUN softball tournament begins on Tuesday at the Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Ala., with North Alabama as the host team.

This year’s tournament is significant in that the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University are both in the main draw for a full tournament schedule, at the host site, for the first time since 2017.

UNF (33-16, 17-7) is the second seed and along with top-seeded Eastern Kentucky (40-8, 21-3) has a double-bye and won’t play until Thursday.

ASUN Tournament bracket

JU (26-24, 14-10) is the sixth seed and plays No. 7 Queens (25-24, 12-12) on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in a single-elimination game.

The Ospreys didn’t make the top eight last season, the Dolphins failed to make it in 2022 and in 2021, under a modified format due to COVID-19 restrictions, JU beat UNF in a first-round series to make a field of four for the conference tournament at Kennesaw.

Also in the tournament are No. 3 Central Arkansas (24-25-1, 15-7-1), No. 4 Florida Gulf Coast (33-19, 16-8), No. 5 North Alabama (34-17, 15-9) and No. 8 Austin Peay (23-28, 8-16).

UCA and FGCU have single byes.

Here’s what fans need to know about the tournament:

Who will UNF and JU face?

If the Dolphins win on Tuesday — they will play their fourth game against Queens in five days since they closed the regular season by losing a three-game series 2-1 — they will play Central Arkansas on Wednesday at 4 p.m. and begin double elimination play.

The winner of that game will play UNF on Thursday at 11 a.m.

Eastern Kentucky will await the survivor of a play-in game between North Alabama and Austin Peay, with the winner facing Florida Gulf Coast. EKU’s first game will be Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

What is the history of UNF and JU in the ASUN tournament?

Jacksonville has won one ASUN tournament, in 2011 in Spartanburg, S.C. when they swept three games by combined scores of 14-3. That was also the only time the Dolphins reached the championship game.

JU is 11-19 in the ASUN touranment.

UNF has never won the ASUN tournament. The Ospreys made their first appearance in the championship game in 2022 at its home stadium and needing to beat Liberty twice, lost the first game 9-0.

UNF is 12-12 in the ASUN tournament.

What happened in the JU vs. UNF series?

It’s worth a recap since the two teams could play in the tournament. JU is 4-2 in the last two seasons against Queens and while the Dolphins dropped all three games to Central Arkansas last season, the last two games were 2-0 and 1-0. They didn’t play this year during the regular season.

The Ospreys took this year’s series 2-1 over the Dolphins at JU’s Pruitt Softball Complex, winning the first two games 9-2 and 4-0 before dropping the third game 4-1. UNF hit six home runs in the first two games, with ASUN home run champion Allison Benning hitting two and four players getting one each.

North Florida has won six of the last eight meetings and has a 33-22 lead in the rivalry.

Who are the teams to beat?

There was only one dominant team in the ASUN this year, the top-seeded Colonels. However, UNF has the confidence of being the only conference team to win a series against EKU this season, taking two of three two weeks ago at the UNF Softball Complex.

The Colonels had an 11-game winning streak before the two losses to UNF. EKU was the dominant offensive team in the ASUN, leading with a .300 team batting average (Austin Peay was next at .268) and a .463 slugging percentage, leading in doubles with 75 and second to UNF in home runs with 34 (the Ospreys have 36).

EKU has a three-headed hitting attack led by CF Jaelin Haynes (.400 to lead the ASUN), LF Jennay Riley (third at .381) and 2B Madison Scott (seventh at .358). Pitcher Maddi Rutan is 22-4 to lead the conference in victories and is second in ERA at 1.48.

Handicapping a team that can make a run at EKU is a matter of putting the names of the next five in a box and shaking it up. Only three games separated No. 2 UNF and No. 6 JU.

Other ASUN players and teams to watch

• In addition to leading the conference in homers and slugging (.657) and sitting second in RBI (41), Benning is 17-10 with a 1.95 ERA. Teammate Halle Arends is 13-4 with a 1.54 ERA.
• UNF 2B Hadlee Reichert is 15-for-39 in her last 12 games (.384) with five multi-hit games.
• JU 2B-3B Lindsey Chadwick is one of four ASUN players without an error this season. She has fielded 73 chances.
• Queens pitcher Autumn Courtney is 20-9 with a 1.62 ERA and leads the conference with 245 strikeouts in 198.1 innings. She has struck out 70 batters on called third strikes.
• Central Arkansas CF Tremere Harris leads the ASUN with a .509 on-base percentage, 40 points higher than the next player. She’s second in hitting at .390. Teammate 1B Morgan Nelson leads the conference with 42 RBI.
• North Alabama pitcher Alivia Wilken leads the conference with a 1.45 ERA and is 17-7.
• Florida Gulf Coast pitcher Angelina Bonilla leads the nation with 16 saves. The next-nearest player in the ASUN has five.

How to watch the ASUN softball tournament

All 13 tournament games (or 14, if the loser’s bracket finalist gives the winner’s bracket finalist its first loss), will be live-streamed on ESPN+.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: ASUN women's softball tournament: Who's playing, how to watch and can anyone beat EKU?