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SAU SOFTBALL NEWS AND NOTES
Despite relentless rainy weather that has engulfed the region throughout the week, No. 7 Southern Arkansas and East Central will convene in North Texas as the two programs are scheduled to open up Great American Conference play on the all-turf playing surface at Bonham High School in Bonham, Texas. The Lady Muleriders and Tigers begin the series on Sunday with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. and conclude the four-game set on Monday with a doubleheader slated for an 11 a.m. first-pitch.
    
Southern Arkansas (9-1) enters league play having won at least nine of their first ten games of the season for the third-straight spring. The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) released its first weekly poll of the 2018 season on Wednesday and the Lady Muleriders climbed three spots to No. 7 nationally. Since current head coach Jason Anderson arrived in Magnolia in the summer of 2014, the Lady Muleriders have appeared in the Top 10 of the NFCA's weekly poll 11 times, including a program-best No. 2 in 2017. Anderson, who is set to lead his fourth SAU team into a Great American Conference schedule, is chasing yet another career coaching milestone as he is just three wins away from becoming the program's all-time wins leader with 137. 
    
Powering the hot start to the season for the Lady Muleriders is an offense that leads the GAC in batting average (.353), on-base percentage (.430) and slugging percentage (.647), which also ranks second in the nation. Additionally, the SAU bats own top five marks in ten other offensive categories including runs scored, hits, RBI, doubles, and home runs. The team's 20 dingers leads the league and its per game home run average of 2.00 is the top mark in the nation.

Four Lady Muleriders are swinging .440 or better through the team's first ten games. Senior Monica Islava and sophomore Faith Otts both own team-best .464 (13-for-28) batting averages. The duo has combined for six doubles and five home runs and Otts is second on the team with 11 RBI. Reigning Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division II National Player of the Week Brooke Goad has blasted a conference-leading seven home runs which stands as the second-most in the nation, while her 1.320 slugging percentage ranks third. Goad is currently hitting .440 (11-for-25) and leads the team with the nation's seventh-most RBI (18) and owns team-highs in walks (8) and on-base percentage (.559), while also leading the conference in total bases (33).

Eight of SAU's nine starters in the batting order are hitting .300 or better and eight have scored at least six runs. Five players have ten or more hits and six have hit two or more home runs. 
    
In the circle, the Lady Muleriders own the league's second-lowest team-ERA at 1.94 and the second-lowest opponent batting average at .196. As a staff, SAU has struck out 58 batters and has allowed the second-fewest hits, runs, and earned runs in the GAC.

Junior Brooke Ford-Nelson owns a league-best in ERA (0.45) and the second-best opponent batting average (.183) and has been solid in relief as she has picked up a pair of wins and a save in five appearances, all of which resulted in her finishing the game in the circle. Sophomore Victoria Taylor boasts a team-leading 4-0 record with three complete games and a pair of shutouts and owns a league-high 32 strikeouts. Junior Jenny Hittinger is 3-0 with 16 strikeouts in five starts.
    
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT | EAST CENTRAL STATS
East Central heads into conference play at 5-5 overall and owns a team slash of .284/.335/.405. The Tigers' slugging percentage ranks fifth in the conference and the team's 73 hits are also the fifth-most in the league. Offensively, ECU has been led by four Tigers that have logged a .315 batting average or better among players with at least six starts.

Catherine Barrera has played and started all 10 games for East Central and is currently hitting a league-best .552 (16-for-29) with five extra base hits, including a team-best three doubles, and has added four RBI and a team-leading ten runs scored. Barrera's 16 hits rank third in the GAC as do her ten runs scored, while also ranking fourth in on-base percentage (.567) and fifth in slugging percentage (.828). Alissa Taylor joins Barrera in double-digit hits with 10 and leads the team with a dozen RBI and two home runs. Her 12 RBI places her third in the league in the early going. 

The Tiger pitching staff, through ten games, holds a 6.39 team-ERA with 21 strikeouts and has allowed 52 runs in 63.1 innings pitched. Demi Danell owns the staff's top ERA at 3.05, while Angel Stoker leads the team in innings pitched (23.2), strikeouts (9) and opponent batting average (.264). Danell and Stoker have each garnered a pair of wins in the circle for East Central this season.

Defensively, ECU leads the GAC in fielding percentage at .978 and ranks fourth in both chances (270) and putouts (189). Thirteen players have recorded a fielding percentage of .980 or better with a dozen owning a perfect fielding percentage. 

THE ALL-TIME SERIES
Southern Arkansas carries a 21-13 record all-time against East Central into 2018's league series. Since the two programs became charter members of the Great American Conference in 2011, the Lady Muleriders own a 17-7 lead in the series and enter Sunday's doubleheader having won nine straight games against the Tigers. Of the 34 games in the series, four have been played at a neutral site with SAU having won three of those matchups.
    
PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS (Click Graphic for Story)