BABSON PARK, Fla. (April 30, 2018) – The pairings and bracket for the 2018 Sun Conference Softball Tournament have been set, and the Webber International University Warriors' softball team will start the tournament as the No 5 seed against fourth-seeded the University of South Carolina Beaufort in the very first game of the tournament.

The Warriors and the Sand Sharks will square off at 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 3, at the Legends Way Ballfields at PFX Athletics (National Training Center) in Clermont, Florida, to kick off the festivities. The same site will also be the host of the NAIA Softball World Series later on in May.

For fans looking to attend, the address will be 2350 Legends Way, Clermont, FL 34711. Additionally, live stats and video from the tournament can be found HERE.

In its first season under new Head Coach Laura Tucker, Webber (18-19 overall, 10-14 TSC) finished fifth in The Sun Conference standings during the regular season after sweeping then-ranked No. 16 Southeastern University in late February and then-ranked No. 17 USCB in mid-March while also earning a win over No. 24 Warner University in late March.

"I am very proud of how our team has played this season," said Tucker. "From the beginning, our goal was to make it to the conference tournament. We play in a highly competitive conference in which any team can beat anyone on any given day. Our girls fought hard all season through the ups and downs and found a way to clinch their spot in the tournament."

In the Warriors' sweep over the Sand Sharks on March 17 in Babson Park, Florida, Webber earned a 6-2 win in game one behind a complete game effort with one earned run allowed, four hits and one walk from Raven White and three combined home runs and five runs batted in from the senior duo of Megan Isoba and Laura Borders. In game two, Sabrina Hebding tossed a complete game one-hitter as the Warriors took it by a score of 2-0.

After originally being picked to finish seventh in the conference in the preseason, the Warriors charged out of the gates early with five wins over nationally ranked TSC Teams to make an appearance in the NAIA Softball Coaches' Top 25 Poll on March 27 by receiving votes. Webber was 14-9 overall and 6-4 in the conference at the time.

The winner of the Webber/USCB matchup will move on to play No. 14 nationally ranked and top-seeded Thomas University at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

The tournament is double-elimination format beginning with four games Thursday. Five games are scheduled for Friday which will set up Saturday's championship matchup with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round.

"Going into the tournament, I am confident in our team," added Tucker. "They've been playing well as of late. We know that it's anybody's tournament to win and it all comes down to who shows up this week. We are very excited to see what this week could bring and are looking forward to making a run in the tournament."