TALLAHASEE, Fla. - The Florida A&M Lady Rattlers will head to Gainesville to take on No. 1/1 University of Florida Gators (55-3) in the NCAA Division I Softball Regionals beginning Friday, May 15.

Florida A&M (30-30) will face the Gators in Friday's second game at 6 p.m. on the University of Florida campus. Lehigh (36-16-1) and Texas A&M (31-19) will battle in the regional opener at 3:30 p.m.

Florida A&M won the 2009 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday - their ninth title since 1993 and their third in the last five years - to earn an NCAA automatic bid.  The finished regular season play with an unblemished 12-0 southern divisional record and entered tournament play as the top seed.  

The Lady Rattlers will be making their fourth regional appearance (1999, 2005, 2006, 2009) all-time and their seventh NCAA postseason appearance all-time including play-in series (1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2006, 2009).

The No. 1 overall seeding is the second straight for the Gators as they earned the same ranking last season.  UF won the Southeastern Conference regular-season and tournament titles this year, as it did in 2008.

The winner of the Gainesville Regional will face the winner of the Tallahassee Regional.  Florida State earned the 16th seed and will host California, Mississippi State and Oklahoma State.

 Click here for the 2009 NCAA Softball Printable Bracket.