OXFORD, Ala. (May 5, 2025) – The 2025 Atlantic Sun Conference Softball Championship tournament begins Tuesday, May 6 in Oxford, Ala. The University of North Alabama will compete as the No. 9 seed and will play No. 8 Jacksonville in the first round at 12:30 p.m.
The winner of UNA and JU will advance to the 5:30 p.m. game against No. 5 Austin Peay. If UNA can win both of those game, the Lions will advance to the double elimination rounds which begin Wednesday.
For the first time in ASUN tournament history, there will be 10 teams included — five from the ASUN Gold Division and five from the ASUN Graphite Division. According to the schedule, the champion will be decided on Saturday, May 10.
2025 ASUN Softball Championship
May 6-10, 2025
Choccolocco Park
Oxford, Alabama
Watch: ESPN+
Stats: StatBroadcast
Info: Click Here
Bracket: Click Here
NOTES
LAST TIME OUT: UNA fell in three tight games at Central Arkansas last week to close the regular season. The first game was the tightest, as UNA was edged 2-1 on a pair of late homers by the Bears. UCA won 5-2 and 4-1 in the Saturday doubleheader to close the regular season. In all three games, UNA led early before UCA snatched the lead in the middle-to-late innings.
TOURNEY TIME: North Alabama has appeared in all six postseason softball tournaments since joining the ASUN for the 2019 season. The Lions are 7-10 in ASUN tournament games, winning at least one game in each of the last three seasons. In 2023, UNA made a run to the championship game, falling to top-seeded Central Arkansas despite a win against the Bears early in the tournament.
AGAINST THE ODDS: UNA will look to accomplish something that has never been done before in ASUN softball this week — win as a low seed. In 39 editions of the tournament since 1986, a top five seed has won it each time. The top seed, which belongs to North Florida this season, has won 24 of the 38 tournaments. The second seed, which is owned by EKU this year, has won six times.
THE PATH: Under the new ASUN tournament format, UNA will have to win two games to advance to double elimination. This starts with No. 8 Jacksonville on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. and leads to No. 5 Austin Peay at 5:30 p.m. The winner of those two games will play No. 4 Stetson on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. to begin double elimination play. The winner of that game will play No. 1 North Florida on Thursday.
DUE FOR A TITLE: North Alabama has five conference championships in softball — all as a member of NCAA Division II in the Gulf South Conference. UNA won its first conference title in 1983 during the slow pitch era, then won back-to-back GSC titles in 1986 and 1987 to begin the fast pitch era. All three titles were won by UNA Hall of Fame Coach Ande Jones. The Lions also won the GSC in 2016 and 2018 under Coach Ashley Cozart, who is in her 12th season with the program.
ANOTHER WINNING SEASON: The Lions own a 30-20 record to guarantee a winning season. This extends a 13-year streak without a losing season, including 12 under Cozart.
KEEPING UP WITH JONES: Senior Hailey Jones is in her fourth and final season with the Lions. She is a career .323 hitter with 229 career hits. She is three at-bats away from tying the career record at UNA set by Lindsey Greene from 2005-08 with 713 at-bats. Earlier this season, Jones broke the all-time school record for career doubles and now has 56.
PITCHING PROWESS: The Lions rank second in the ASUN with a 2.80 ERA, hanging around with the national leaders all season long. Senior ace Alivia Wilken has a 2.51 ERA over 139.2 innings, recently passing the season century mark for strikeouts against Central Arkansas. Twin sisters Katie Simon and Emily Simon have also contributed to the low ERA, as Emily has a team-low 2.18 ERA and Katie owns a 3.33 ERA.
WHEELING AND DEALING: Junior outfielder Laura Leigh Wheeler has hit safely in 30 of the last 36 games, going 6-for-9 last week at Central Arkansas. She had a three-hit game to open the series and currently has a four-game hitting streak. She currently owns the longest streak by any Lion this season at 16 games.
GYVAN IT HER BEST: Junior centerfielder Gyvan Hammons has an active 13-game on-base streak, slowing raising her average from .194 to .281 since the end of February against nationally-ranked Auburn. She won ASUN Play of the Week on Monday for a diving catch against EKU.
SCOUTING JACKSONVILLE: UNA’s first opponent will be Jacksonville, who has a 22-26 overall record and a 9-15 record in ASUN games. The Dolphins dropped two of three last weekend at Queens. Senior Haley Fox leads the offense with 54 hits and a .348 batting average, while sophomore left-handed pitcher Skylar Waggoner sports an impressive 1.98 ERA over 109.1 innings.
SERIES HISTORY: The Lions are 7-1 against Jacksonville, including five straight wins.
2023 TOURNAMENT REWIND: UNA and Jacksonville’s last meeting came in the 2023 ASUN Championship. In UNA’s first game of the tournament, the Lions won on a 10th inning walk-off by Sidney Bevis. Current assistant coach Danielle Taitt reached on the single that later became the go-ahead run in that game. UNA went on to beat FGCU, Central Arkansas and Liberty before falling to UCA in two during the championship.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
