SOUTHERN ARKANSAS LADY MULERIDERS (3-3)

UAM 8-STATE CLASSIC February 13 - 15 BHS Tiger Athletic Complex / Memorial Park | Bentonville, Ark. SAU WEEKEND NOTES

 

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Leading Off
The Southern Arkansas softball team is set to take part in their second regionally-renowned tournament/classic as they will play a six-game slate in the 2015 UAM 8-State Classic, hosted by the University of Arkansas-Monticello in Bentonville, Ark. Last weekend, the Lady Muleriders traveled to Hunstville, Ala. and played six games in the annual Charger Chillout. SAU would come out of that chillout 3-3 as they picked up wins over Maryville University, Trevecca Nazarene and Ohio Dominican. The Lady Muleriders also suffered tough one-run losses to a pair of NCAA Regional teams from a year ago in Bellarmine University and Delta State.

This weekend, all six of the games on tap for the Lady Muleriders will be in-region games with five of the games coming against teams from the MIAA conference. On Friday, the Lady Muleriders will open up the classic with games against Northwest Missouri and Lindenwood. Both of those teams made the MIAA Tournament last season with Lindenwood ending Northwest Missouri's season.

On Saturday, the Lady Muleriders will take a pair of NCAA Regional Tournament qualifiers in Truman State and Missouri Western. Last year, Truman State made it to the Midwest Regional Final while Missouri Western was responsible for ending SAU's season in the Central Regional Tournament. SAU will then close out the classic on Sunday with games against Pittsburg State and Northeastern State. Last year, Pitt State won 30 games while Northeastern was one win shy of the 30-win mark as they ended with 29 W's in 2014.
 

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SAU NOTES
Tabbed Second in GAC
Coming off of a season in which the Southern Arkansas softball team won the Great American Conference Championship and advanced to their first-ever NCAA Regional Tournament, the Lady Muleriders were voted by the head coaches of the GAC to finish the 2015 season in second-place in the GAC. This year's team returns the services of seven position players who started over 55 games last year and three others who started at least 20 games. Additionally, the Lady Muleriders have bolstered their roster with the addition of 13 talented newcomers.

#BombSquad
Last season the Lady Muleriders belted 71 homeruns, ranking them second in the GAC and among the top-20 in all of NCAA Division II. Three players hit over 10 bombs with Maddie Dow leading the way with a SAU and GAC single-season record 21 homeruns. Behind Dow in homeruns a year ago was Brooke Goad who, in 36 games played before suffering a season-ending knee injury, hit 15 bombs. Goad's 15 homeruns prior to her injury were a SAU single-season record before Dow passed her later in the year.

Anderson Takes Over
Jason Anderson was named as the sixth head coach of the Southern Arkansas softball program on July 2 following the resignation of now former head coach Corey Lyon.
Anderson comes to SAU as a proven winner. In his seven previous seasons as a head coach, Anderson had garnered an outstanding career coaching record of 307-73 (.807). A NCCAA National Coach of the Yeat and five-time NCCAA Regional Coach of the Year, Anderson would guide his 2010 team at Central Baptist (NAIA) to a remarkable 52-1 (.981) record en route to winning the NCCAA National Championship. In his past two seasons as a head coach, Anderson has been in the NCAA DII ranks and has won 40 or more games each season.

Record-Setters
Last season was one literally for the record books as the 2014 SAU softball team established, and in some cases, demolished previously-held records. In all, last year's Lady Mulerider softball team would set 54 new records. 20 of those records were team single-season records, 15 were individual season records, nine were individual career records, eight were team game records, and two were individual game records.