Magnolia, Ark. - The SAU Softball team will play their first home games of the season in a four-game series against the Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers.

The Rangers enter this weekend 2-6 on the season, losing all four of their games two weekends ago as a part of the Edmond Regional Festival. The Rangers then split both doubleheaders against Oklahoma Baptist last weekend to pick up their two wins on the season so far. Offensively, the Rangers are led by reigning conference freshman of the week, Kalie Johnson. Johnson has started all eight games, and is batting .462 with a double and a home run to her name. As a team, the Rangers are batting .291 on the season. In the circle, the Rangers have won both of their games with Allison Wells pitching. Wells has a 6.00 ERA in four appearances, three starts, having thrown 21.0 innings and striking out 12 batters. After this weekend, the Rangers will host Monticello in a four-game conference series. 

The Muleriders are 13-3 on the season and are coming off a sweep of Harding this past weekend in Searcy. The offense is led by a pair of juniors -  third baseman Faith Otts, who is hitting .302 on the season with four home runs and 14 RBIs; and, first baseman Chelsea Fagan, who is batting .294 with a league-leading eight home runs and 16 RBIs. As a team, the Muleriders are batting .255 and have a league-best 21 home runs. The Muleriders are led in the circle by a pair of juniors - Victoria Taylor and Sydney Wader. Taylor has had a record-breaking junior season so far, setting program records for wins, strikeouts and strikeouts looking. She is currently 5-1 with a 1.10 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 51 innings of work. Opponents are batting .128 against the Greenwood native. Wader is 6-1 on the season with a 1.35 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 41.1 innings in the circle. Opponents are only hitting .181 against Wader, and as a staff, opponents are hitting .188 against Mulerider pitching. 

After this weekend, the Muleriders will make the trip up to Weatherford to take on Southwestern Oklahoma State in a four-game conference series.