2013 SoCon Tournament
First Round, Today (at Greensboro, N.C.)
Game 1 — 9 a.m.
#8 Elon vs. #9 Samford (Play-in game)
Game 2 — Noon
#2 College of Charleston vs. #7 Western Carolina
Game 3 — 2:30 p.m.
#3 Georgia Southern vs. #6 Chattanooga
Game 4 — 5 p.m.
#1 Appalachian State vs. WINNER (Play-in game)
Game 5 — 7 p.m.
#4 UNC Greensboro vs. #5 Furman
Second Round, Thursday
Game 6 — 9 a.m.
Loser, Game 2 vs. Loser, Game 3 (Loser eliminated)
Game 7 — 11:30 a.m.
Loser, Game 4 vs. Loser, Game 5 (Loser eliminated)
Game 8 — 2 p.m.
Winner, Game 2 vs. Winner, Game 3
Game 9 — 4:30 p.m.
Winner, Game 4 vs. Winner, Game 5
Game 10 — 7 p.m.
Loser, Game 9 vs. Winner, Game 6 (Loser eliminated)
Game 11 — 9:30 p.m.
Loser, Game 8 vs. Winner, Game 7 (Loser eliminated)
It wouldn't be a Southern Conference softball tournament without Georgia Southern and Chattanooga meeting at least once.
The 2013 tournament opens today in Greensboro, N.C., and the rivals will meet at 2:30 p.m., in the first round of the double-elimination bracket.
"It's a rivalry, and it's been a good rivalry for a long time," GSU coach Annie Smith said about the matchup with the Mocs. "They won (the regular-season) series from us and it's time for us to see what we can do against them (on Wednesday)."
The Eagles (28-27, 14-9 SoCon) bring the best pitcher in the league to the circle. Sarah Purvis was named this week as the SoCon Pitcher of the Year for the second-straight season.
"I was actually surprised," the junior pitcher said about the award. "I know I had a good year, but I had a better year last year. It was one of my goals in the beginning. I did it."
The No. 3 seed Eagles are on fire entering the tournament. They ended the regular season with series wins over No. 4 seed UNC Greensboro and No. 1 Appalachian State.
"That's a big deal for us," Smith said. "We're playing better, and we're finally getting healthy. That's been a big challenge for us all year, and it's nice to see us getting healthy and playing better at the right time."
"Now we have some confidence going into this tournament, and I feel like it's going to be a good one," Purvis added.
Good pitching is a given for GSU, but pitching alone won't bring the Eagles their second-straight SoCon title.
"If we have quality at-bats and try to stay within ourselves, good things happen," Smith said. "We only had two strikeouts on Sunday (against ASU). Defensively, we're going after everything hard, we're talking and we're communicating."
The Eagles have won the SoCon title in 2012, 2006 and 1999.
Nobody's thinking of the title game, which will be played on Saturday at 1 p.m., on ESPN3, quite yet. GSU isn't looking past No. 6 Chattanooga (26-25, 10-11)
"We've got to focus on this game," Purvis said. "In this tournament this year, everybody's close together. We've got to do it one game at a time, one inning at a time."
Matt Yogus may be reached at (912) 489-9408.
