SOUTHERN ARKANSAS LADY MULERIDERS 24-21, 14-15 GAC	SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA LADY BULLDOGS 7-35, 3-27 GAC
Friday, April 24 | DH | 2 p.m. - Saturday, April 25 | DH | 11 a.m. SWOSU Athletic Complex - Weatherford, Okla. LIVE STATS

 

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SERIES NOTES | SAU | SWOSU

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Leading Off
The Southern Arkansas softball team enters play this weekend with a 24-21 overall record and are 14-15 in the GAC. This past week has been a jam-packed week of action as SAU enters the weekend having already played six games as their series with Southern Nazarene was pushed back to Sunday-Monday and then the Lady Muleriders hit the road on Tuesday to play two against first-year program Texas A&M-Commerce. Over that six-game stretch in three days, the Lady Muleriders came out 3-3 with three wins against SNU and a doubleheader defeat
at A&M-Commerece.

The Southwestern Oklahoma softball team enters play this weekend with a 7-35 overall record and are 3-27 in the GAC. The Lady Bulldogs enter the weekend having lost their last eight games after suffering series-sweeps to East Central and Southeastern Oklahoma over the past two weekends.

Statistically, the Lady Muleriders are hitting .313 as a team and have five starters hitting .300 or better. Ashton Atwell currently leads the team in average at .413 (64-for-155). Atwell also leads the team in RBIs with 50 and homeruns with 12. Behind Atwell in homeruns and RBIs is Maddie Dow with 12 HRs and 39 RBIs.

In terms of pitching, SAU has 4.72 team ERA. Jami Godwin leads the team wins (8) and in ERA at 3.63.

For SWOSU, they are hitting .303 as a team and have six players over .300. Adrienne Martinez leads the team in batting at .368 (46-for-125). Martinez also leads the team in homeruns with 11 and leads the club in RBIs with 36.

In terms of pitching, SWOSU has a 7.21 team ERA. Rileigh Ricken leads the team in wins with three and has the lowest ERA on the team at 4.89.

Dow Career Record Holder: HRs
A s a sophomore, Lady Mulerider designated player Maddie Dow has set a significant career record at SAU as she is now the top homerun hitter in program history after she blasted her 28th career longball in game two against Arkansas-Monticello on Wednesday, March 25. As a freshman, Dow hit a SAU and GAC single-season record 21 homeruns and going into this weekend,
Dow now has 33 career homeruns. 

Atwell At The Top
J unior transfer Ashton Atwell has been a tremendous addition to the SAU softball team this season. Entering play this weekend, Atwell leads the team in nine offensive categories as she is the leader in batting average (.413 | 64-for-155), slugging percentage (.774), runs scored (40), hits (64), RBIs (50), doubles (14), Homeruns (14), and total bases (120). In the scope of the GAC, Atwell is in the top-10 in all eight of those categories, toping the league in homeruns, doubles, total bases, and slugging percentage.

Weaver Shutsout SNU
I n her very first collegaite start, SAU freshman right-hander Abby Weaver tossed a four-hit shutout against Southern Nazarene this past weekend. In the shutout, Weaver was a groundball machine as she induced 13 groundouts. Not only was the shutout the first in the career of Weaver, it was the first for a SAU pitcher this season.

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. This year, the Lady Muleriders, through 45 games, have hit 52 homeruns. Through 45 games last year, SAU had hit 51, putting them ahead of their record-pace in 2014.

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 fivetime 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. I n 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.

Bats on Fire at 8-State Classic
Equiped with a potent lineup, the Southern Arkansas offense got things going in their four games at the 8-State Classic as they hit .391 (43-for-110) as a team and scored 38 runs on 43 hits. Nearly half of those hits on the weekend went for extra bases as SAU hit eight doubles and hammered out 12 homeruns to help give the Lady Muleriders a .791 slugging percentage as well.

Atwell and Farfan Return Home
In what was supposed to be SAU's home-opener against Northwestern Oklahoma, the Lady Muleriders ended up moving their series to a neutral site in Rockwall, Texas. The change of venue turned into an unexpected homecoming for Rockwall natives Ashton Atwell and Audrey Farfan, who played their high school softball on that very field. Both would make the most of their homecoming with Atwell hitting .563 (9-for-16) with three doubles, two homeruns, and seven RBIs while Farfan hit .500 (6-for-12) with one double, one homerun, and six RBIs.