AUGUSTA, Ga. - The Peach Belt Conference released the 2008 softball tournament bracket on Tuesday evening, following the conclusion of the regular season. The softball tournament will begin on Friday, April 18, at noon at the Freedom Florence Complex in Florence, S.C. The event is being hosted by Francis Marion University.

UNC Pembroke, after winning their first PBC Regular Season Championship, will be the #1 seed in the tournament for the first time. The Lady Braves will take the field at 2:00 on Friday and meet the winner of #8 Augusta State and #9 Lander.

Armstrong Atlantic State is the #2 seed, finishing one game ahead of #3 GCSU. The AASU Pirates will take on #7 USC Aiken on Friday. GCSU will meet #6 Francis Marion.

Francis Marion was part of a three-way tie for the 4,5 and 6 seeds with North Georgia and Columbus State after CSU swept Lander on Tuesday to put themselves in the race with a 10-8 conference record. The three teams all split their regular-season meetings and all were swept by #1 UNC Pembroke. Francis Marion, however, was swept by #2 AASU whereas both Columbus State and North Georgia split with the Lady Pirates, putting FMU in the sixth spot.

North Georgia took the fourth seed after a tiebreak over Columbus State thanks to a split with #3 GCSU. GCSU swept Columbus State. However, the tiebreak victory will be short lived as NGCSU and CSU meet in the first round on Friday at noon.

The double-elimination tournament continues on through the Championship game which is scheduled for Sunday at 3:00 with an if-necessary game to follow at 5:00. The tournament winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

To view the complete bracket, click HERE.