UAB Softball will begin its run in the American Championships on May 6, facing eight-seed Tulsa at 9 a.m. Central Time. The Blazers secured the nine seed after finishing their conference play with an 8-19 record.
The tournament uses a ladder format, giving higher seeds byes into later rounds and is single-elimination. If UAB wins against Tulsa, they will advance to play No. 5 Charlotte later that afternoon at 3 p.m.
Two Blazers players received recognition for their performances this season. Ashlyn Shirah and Hannah Dorsett were named to the all-conference team for the first time in their careers. Shirah hit two grand slams last week in Boca Raton, becoming the first UAB player since at least 2018 to accomplish this feat in a single season. Her second grand slam helped secure a recent win over Florida Atlantic. Shirah and Caitlin Russell also earned honorable mentions on May 4 following the series against FAU; Russell pitched a five-inning victory during that stretch.
The Blazers recently defeated Florida Atlantic 5-3 but lost two other games in that series by just one run each. Currently, UAB ranks 130th out of 308 teams nationally according to RPI metrics, with records of zero wins in Quad-1 games, two wins in Quad-2 matchups, seven wins in Quad-3 contests, and twelve victories within Quad-4 games.
In their previous meeting with Tulsa this season, UAB lost the series two games to one. Both teams traded dominant victories during a Saturday doubleheader before Tulsa won the deciding game behind pitcher Maura Moore’s strong performance across thirteen innings for the weekend.
