Regular-Season Champions Anderson, Lenoir-Rhyne top SAC Softball Championship Field

ROCK HILL, S.C. – SAC co-regular season champions Anderson and Lenoir-Rhyne will be the top two seeds in the upcoming Food Lion SAC Softball Championship, which kicks off Thursday in Harrogate, Tenn.

Anderson and Lenoir-Rhyne finished tied atop the conference standings at 16-6. Lenoir-Rhyne, however, will be the No. 1 seed in the championship by virtue of its 2-0 head-to-head record over Anderson.

L-R's SAC title is the program's eighth in the past 11 seasons, while Anderson wins its first since joining the conference in the 2010-11 academic year. The Bears – ranked 13th in the nation - are 38-11 overall and the Trojans 38-10.

Lenoir-Rhyne's first-round opponent in the SAC Championship will be No. 8 seed Catawba, which finished 9-13 in league play.

Anderson, meanwhile, will face No. 7 seed Carson-Newman in the opening round on Thursday. The Eagles went 11-11 in SAC games this season.

Wingate earned the bracket's No. 3 seed after finishing 14-6 in the conference. The Bulldogs – whose final series of the season against Lincoln Memorial was rained out on Saturday – will play sixth-seeded Brevard in the first round.

Brevard also had its weekend series against Queens washed away, and finished 11-9 in SAC contests.

The championship's final first-round matchup will pit fourth-seeded Tusculum against fifth-seeded LMU. The Pioneers went 14-8 in the conference, while the Railsplitters finished 12-8.

Lenoir-Rhyne is the event's four-time defending champion.

2014 Food Lion SAC Softball Championship Schedule

Thursday, April 24

No. 4 Tusculum vs. No. 5 Lincoln Memorial, 10 a.m.

No. 3 Wingate vs. No. 6 Brevard, 12:30 p.m.

No. 2 Anderson vs. No. 7 Carson-Newman, 3 p.m.

No. 1 Lenoir-Rhyne vs. No. 8 Catawba, 5:30 p.m.

Friday, April 25

Gm. 1 loser vs. Gm. 4 loser, 10 a.m.

Gm. 2 winner vs. Gm. 3 winner, 10 a.m.

Gm. 2 loser vs. Gm. 3 loser, 12:30 p.m.

Gm. 1 winner vs. Gm. 4 winner, 12:30 p.m.

Gm. 7 loser vs. Gm. 5 winner, 3 p.m.

Gm. 8 loser vs. Gm. 6 winner, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 26

Gm. 9 winner vs. Gm. 10 winner, noon

Gm. 7 winner vs. Gm. 8 winner, 2:30 p.m.

Gm. 11 winner vs. Gm. 12 loser, 3:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 27

Championship game, 1 p.m.

If necessary, 3:30 p.m.