After beating Indiana State in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game to claim the league's automatic bid, the SIU softball team was assigned to the NCAA Tournament's Utah Regional.
The Salukis will play the host Utes Friday at 2:30 p.m.
It's the 14th overall NCAA Tournament appearance for Southern and fourth since 2017.
The other two teams in the regional are Baylor and Ole Miss. They open up play at noon on Friday.
In the most recent NCAA RPI rankings, all three opponents rank within the top-35. No. 21 Utah and No. 15 Baylor were both ranked in last week's NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll last week.
