Weatherford, Okla. – The SAU Softball team closes their regular season this weekend with a three-game series against Southwestern Oklahoma. This series is a make-up from February, which was postponed at the time due to COVID-19 protocols within the SAU softball program.

The Muleriders, currently at 23-7 overall and 19-5 in conference play, are currently second in the standings entering the final weekend of the season; and, with three of the top four teams in the conference playing this weekend, there is still a lot to be determined headed into next week's conference tournament.

The simplest way to phrase it is this: the Muleriders need to better Southeastern Oklahoma's results this weekend in order to win the regular season championship and be the #1 seed in next week's tournament (for example, if the Storm go 2-1 this weekend, the Muleriders need to go 3-0, and so on and so forth).

A sweep by the Storm, who play in Searcy against Harding this weekend, would lock the Muleriders into the second seed in the tournament no matter what the Muleriders do in Weatherford.

The Muleriders completed the sweep of the Bulldogs last season in their final series before the season was ended; the last time the Muleriders played in Weatherford, in 2019, the Muleriders dropped three of four games.

The series will feature a double-header on Friday, starting at 1 p.m. before the series wraps up on Saturday with a single game at noon.

The Bulldogs are 9-26 on the season and 9-21 in conference play, also currently in the midst of a nine-game losing streak; they are mathematically eliminated from being able to make the conference tournament.

The Bulldogs are hitting .270 as a team, being led by Hannah Franklin's .359 batting average. The senior is responsible for 11 of the team's 21 homeruns, slugging a blistering .804 and leading the team in walks (13).

Inside the circle, the Bulldog pitching staff owns a 5.52 ERA, led by Miranda Grover's 3.99 ERA. Grover leads the team in strikeouts with 30 and has thrown 11 complete games. As a team, they are allowing an opponent batting average of .313 and have struck out 84 batters in 236 innings.

The Muleriders are coming off a three-game sweep of Northwestern Oklahoma this past weekend, and at the plate, are hitting .305 as a team, led by centerfielder Alese Casper's .407 average at the plate. The Muleriders also have five players with five or more homeruns, with reigning GAC Player of the Week Elisa Favela leading the way with seven.

Catcher Laina Suesue leads the team with 26 RBIs and 24 walks, nearly twice as many as the next highest on the team (Faith Otts and Sarah Evans with 13), and defensively, the Utah product has only committed one error this season.

Inside the circle, the Mulerider pitching staff owns a 1.88 ERA with 190 strikeouts in 193.2 innings pitched. Opponents are only hitting .210 against the Muleriders, who have only allowed 22 extra-base hits all season.

Sydney Wader and Victoria Taylor both own ERAs under 2.00 (Wader has a 1.73 ERA while Taylor has a 1.84 ERA), and Taylor has more strikeouts by herself this season than the entire Bulldogs pitching staff (87 for Taylor compared to the Bulldogs' 84).

The relievers for the Mulerider staff – Favela, Landry Newgent and Crystine Kistner – have only allowed a combined 36 hits in 45 innings of work.