MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Faulkner diamond sports know their paths in the SSAC Championships this week with the second-seeded softball team starting Thursday and fifth-seeded baseball on Wednesday. 

SOFTBALL
Faulkner softball tied for its best regular season SSAC finish as the regular season runner-up and will see seventh-seeded Brewton-Parker in the opposite dugout Thursday morning at 10 a.m. in Decatur, Ala. at the Wilson Morgan Softball Complex. The winner of the game will play again at 4 p.m. in the third of five rounds of games on the first day against the winner of Mobile and Abraham Baldwin. The loser will play at 2 p.m. against either Thomas or Point.

In a true double-elimination bracket with nine teams, the tournament will feature at least 16, possibly 17 contests with the winner taking the league's only automatic bid to the National Championship on Saturday. The difference between winning and losing early is massive in the format; a win in the opening game means a minimum of three more wins to the conference crown while an opener loss means six wins needed to take the title. 

BASEBALL
The baseball team takes on fourth-seeded Mobile to start the SSAC Baseball Championships in Jackson, Tenn. at Rockabillys Stadium. First pitch is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday morning with the winner taking on the loser of Abraham Baldwin and Brewton-Parker on Thursday. Faulkner will play the last of the three teams it has yet to face Friday. The games will either be at 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. each of the first three days depending on the matchup that could reset based on Wednesday's results. 

The four-team pool of No. 1 ABAC, No. 4 Mobile, No. 5 Faulkner and No. 8 Brewton-Parker will send its winner to the SSAC Championship game Saturday at 1 p.m. against the winner of No. 2 William Carey, No. 3 Thomas, No. 6 Loyola and No. 7 UT Southern. Each pool winner will earn an automatic bid to the national tournament.

COVERAGE
All of Faulkner's games will be broadcast free of charge on the Urban Edge Network. For mobile viewers, the app is available on your app stores. All of the Faulkner games will have live stats on FaulknerEagles.com. All other details are available under the Championships tab on ssacsports.com under each specific sport.