Sweater weather up here today, but it's going to be a hot and humid afternoon in Tuscaloosa, Ala., as the Gophers begin play in the NCAA softball tournament at 1:30 p.m. against Louisiana Tech.

Temperatures are expected to be in the 90s with "your shirt is soaked before you get to the car when you step out the door" humidity. That's according to the Star Tribune's ace freelancer for the weekend, Tommy Deas, the sports editor at The Tuscaloosa News.

Make sure you follow Deas on Twitter to keep up with the action. You can follow him here. And here is Deas' story previewing today's game.

More ways to follow along today:
 
The game is being telecast by ESPNEWS to start, with a possible move to ESPNU during the game. If you are a subscriber, you can watch the video by clicking here or on the Watch ESPN app for your mobile device.

If you can't watch, in-game play-by-play and statistics are here.

You can also get game updates on Twitter, including video highlights, by following @GopherSoftball.

Game results, brackets and more tournament information are available at NCAA.com.

Chip Scoggins wrote about U softball coach Jennifer Allister. Read the column here.

Here's a story from tidesports.com about Alabama's feelings on playing Minnesota.

Here are profiles of the Gophers and the three other teams playing in Alabama.

Click here for 2017 Gophers softball statistics.