IRVING, Texas (May 7, 2017) -- Following the conclusion of the 2017 regular season on Sunday, the 2017 Conference USA Softball Championship field has been set. Eight teams, including second-seeded FIU, will compete for the postseason tournament title in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on May 10-13, with a chance to earn the league's automatic NCAA Tournament berth.
 
FIU won its last six games to overtake Louisiana Tech for the two-seed, earning a pass which entitles the team to advance straight to the second day. The Panthers lead the league with a 1.79 earned-run average and 43 victories. The Panthers secured 13 wins over the rest of the tournament field, more than any of the championship participants. The Panthers were the only program to wins series against the East and West division leaders.

The first round will be played in a single-elimination format with fifth-seeded UAB and eighth-seeded WKU meeting in game one at 1 p.m. Eastern, followed by sixth-seeded Charlotte and seven-seed North Texas in game two at 3:30 p.m. After receiving single-byes into the second half of the first round, four-seed Florida Atlantic will await the winner between the Blazers and Lady Toppers at 6 p.m., while three-seed Louisiana Tech will take on the winner of the Charlotte-North Texas matchup at 8:30 p.m. to round out the event's first day on Wednesday, May 10.

After finishing at the top of the East Division and staking its first C-USA regular-season title, 23rd-ranked and top-seeded Marshall earns a double-bye into the quarterfinal round on Thursday, May 11. Joining the Herd with an automatic spot in the quarters is East Division rival FIU. Marshall will await its opponent at the top of the bracket (No. 4, No. 5 or No. 8 seeds) in game five at 3 p.m. while the Panthers are on the bottom half of the bracket (No. 3, No. 6 or No. 7 seeds) and are slated for a 5:30 p.m. start.

Days two and three (quarterfinal and semifinal rounds) will be played in a double-elimination format until two teams remain. The first loser's bracket game is slated for 3:30 p.m. on Friday, May 12, with the second to be played at 6 p.m. The winner of the winner's bracket semifinal game at 1 p.m. will advance straight to Saturday's championship game.

Games one through nine will be streamed or televised live on beIN Sports or beIN Connect. All nine games will also be available streaming live on YouTube. Live streaming and stats links will be available each game day and can be found on the C-USA Championship Central page.

The 2017 C-USA Softball Championship game will be played on Saturday, May 13, at 1 p.m. Eastern, broadcast live on CBS Sports Network. 

For more information on this year's championship event, with broadcast/stats links and more, visit the 2017 C-USA Softball Championship Central Page HERE.

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and at Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.