ATHENS — The best Georgia softball regular-season SEC record since 2009 translated to an opportunity to host an NCAA regional as the No. 14 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The Bulldogs (39-13, 16-7 SEC) will welcome Virginia Tech, Boston University and North Carolina Central to Jack Turner Stadium starting on Friday.

Georgia is making its 21st consecutive NCAA tourney appearance and has made it to 11 Super Regionals (Sweet 16) and five Women’s College World Series (Final eight teams).

Second-year coach Tony Baldwin is looking for his Bulldogs to snap out of their regular-season ending slump, which carried over to a one-and-done appearance at the SEC tournament with the the team’s third straight loss.

“I think it puts a fire under us,” Georgia All-American candidate Sara Mosley said after the loss to No. 10 seed South Carolina at the SEC tournament last Thursday.

“It’s time for us to go to work; there’s no if, ands or butts about that.”

Virginia Tech (37-18) and Patriot League champ Boston (51-8) will open the four-team, double-elimination Athens Regional at 2 p.m. on Friday, with Georgia’s game against MEAC tourney champ N.C. Central (19-33) slated for roughly 4:30 p.m.

The winner of the Athens Regional will advance to face the winner of the Tallahassee Regional, which features No. 3 national seed Florida State along with UCF, South Carolina and Marist.

Tickets for the Georgia regional can be found online by clicking this link.

The Bulldogs will aim to advance beyond regional play for the first time under Baldwin, whose first team was eliminated in the Duke regional last year.