Southern Miss captured the Conference USA regular season title for the first time since 2000, the first year that the league sponsored softball as a sport. It is the Golden Eagles’ first crown under head coach Gay McNutt. This year’s tournament will be hosted by the University of Louisville and will take place from May 13-15 at Ulmer Stadium in Louisville, Ky.

Southern Miss (32-22) laid claim to the title in dramatic fashion as Auriel Jenkins connected on a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to edge Louisville 3-2 in the deciding game on Sunday. The win gave USM a 19-4 (.823) league record that edged the Cardinals 19-5 mark (.792) and earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Southern Miss, who won back-to-back conference tournament titles in C-USA’s first two seasons (2000 and 2001), will look to repeat history after a two-year hiatus. Jenkins has led the Golden Eagles all season on offense, hitting .399 for the year and blasting eight home runs.

Second-seeded Louisville posted a 19-5 league ledger and boasts an overall mark of 40-15, the most wins in program history. Aja Sherman led the Cards from the mound this year with a 15-5 record. The junior recorded three no-hitters this season including a perfect game. The squad will vie for the tournament title as it seeks U of L’s first ever softball NCAA appearance.

USF has earned the third seed and will be looking for its first C-USA Tournament title. The Bulls are ranked 17th in the nation in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll and finished the regular season at 18-5 in league play and 55-10 overall. For the second year in a row, the Bulls have collected 50-plus wins. They are just the fifth squad to reach the 50-win plateau in league history. The Bulls will open against sixth-seeded East Carolina in the first round on Thursday. East Carolina (46-22-1, 10-14) is making its second tournament appearance in three years. In 2002, the Pirates made the trip to Tampa, Fla. also as the No. 6 seed.

Two-time and defending C-USA Tournament Champion DePaul (25-28-1) finished fourth in the league standings with a mark of 13-9 to earn the No. 4 seed in the tournament. The Blue Demons will face No. 5 seed Houston (35-22), who finished with a 12-11 conference mark.

The championship will be a six-team double-elimination tournament (except for the championship game), with the winner receiving the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. The championship game on May 15 will be televised by affiliates of the Conference USA Television Network. Don Russell will announce the play-by-play with Cheri Kempf providing the commentary. The game will be telecasted live on the following stations: College Sports Television (Direct TV, Ch. 610), Charter Communications (St. Louis), Comcast Charter Sports Southeast, Cox Sports TV (New Orleans), Fox Sports Net Chicago, UNC Charlotte Cable Television, WDRB-TV Fox 41 (Louisville) and WXIV-TV (Greensboro).