MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Nationally-prominent Southern Arkansas Softball's 2022 National Championship quest has begun as fall practice opened up for eighth-year head coach Jason Anderson's Muleriders which reloaded with some of the country's top talent. It is a new look squad for Anderson who has led the program to its most successful run to date which includes back-to-back-to-back Great American Conference regular season titles, five-straight trips to the NCAA Central Region Tournament and a pair of World Series appearances which saw SAU finish in the top four nationally both times. Despite the newness of roster, the program's goals remain the same: chasing that elusive national championship.
 
Seven junior college transfers and six four-year transfers, including four from the Division I ranks, make up the newest crop of talent that has been re-harvested in Magnolia.
 
"I am so excited about these transfers we were able to bring in to add to our great group of early signees and returners," noted Anderson. "This group has been working together since we got back this fall, and as we have now moved into team practice I am really seeing what a special group we have."

Sabrina Anguiano
Riverside, Calif. | SS/UT | Rogers State University
 
>>> Anguiano joins Anderson's squad after playing in 46 games for MIAA-foe Rogers State which won 34 games and advanced to the league's tournament title game. This past season, Anguiano recorded 37 hits, five doubles and four homeruns, while scoring 27 runs. Defensively, she recorded 66 assists and 56 putouts. The California native was named the MIAA Hitter of the Week on May 4 and was a member of the MIAA Softball Honor Roll.
 
Brianna Everett
Paragould, Ark. | C/UT | Three Rivers College
 
>>> Everett, who earned first team All-MCCAC and first team all-region honors at Three Rivers College, hit .429 and slugged .776 in 50 games for the Raiders this past spring. The Arkansas native hit 16 home runs and 11 doubles, totaled 74 RBI and scored 39 runs. Defensively, Everett recorded 87 putouts and 37 assists.
 
Uchenna Jong Loy
Amsterdam, Netherlands | IF | Bossier Parish CC
 
>>> The 2021 NJCAA Region XIV Player of the Year, Jong Loy brings a lot of power to Magnolia. An All-Louisiana Collegiate Softball Team selection this past spring, the Amsterdam native hit .521 with 27 home runs and 84 RBI as she helped lead BPCC to a 45-7 record overall and a deep run in the Region IV East Tournament.
  
Dylann Kaderka
Keller, Texas | RHP | Grayson College
 
>>> Behind an NJCAA-leading 31 wins, Dylann Kaderka earned NJCAA Division I Pitcher of the Year honors as well as 2021 NJCAA Softball World Series Most Outstanding Pitcher recognition following the spring campaign at Grayson College. Kaderka fanned 212 batters and generated a 2.28 ERA in 202.0 innings pitched. She received All-America First-Team honors from both the NJCAA and NFCA, was an all-region and all-conference performer in addition to be named the NTJCAC Pitcher of the Year.
 
Gracie King
Winnsboro, La. | INF | LSU-Eunice
 
>>> King comes to Magnolia after two years at LSU-Eunice. In 2021, she hit .344 with 56 hits, including a dozen home runs to go along with a team-leading 55 RBI. King played in all 56 games making 48 starts and recorded a team-leading 114 total bases. Along with 27 walks and six hit-by-pitch, the run-producing bat orchestrated a 1.151 OPS and helped the Bengals win 34 games last spring.
 
Sara Mayes
Lufkin, Texas | C/UT | Angelina College/Trinity Valley CC
 
>>> A two-year player at Angelina College, Mayes made the move to Trinity Valley after AC canceled sports this past spring. A power hitter, Mayes hit .500 with 38 hits including eight home runs and 34 RBI in 25 games for the Cardinals. She struck out just three times in 91 plate appearances and totaled 66 bases with 25 runs scored. In her final year at AC, Mayes helped send the Lady Roadrunners to the NJCAA DI World Series title game with a game-tying two-run home run, one of 11 blasts that season, in AC's 15-13 win over Central Florida.
 
Jade Miller
Plano, Texas | OF | Utah Valley
 
>>> Miller transfers to SAU after a year and a half of action at Utah Valley of the Western Athletic Conference. In 61 games for the Wolverines, Miller hit .322 with 59 hits which includes a dozen doubles, three triples and a home run. She scored 34 runs and registered 19 RBI. Miller's previous stops include Arkansas, UDallas where she set the single-season hit record with 61 as a freshman, and Grayson College where she earned NJCAA first-team All-American honors in 2019 after hitting .473 to go along with 13 doubles, 18 home runs, 59 RBIs, 67 runs, and 18 stolen bases.
 
Madison Miller
Wichita, Kan. | OF/UT | Texas-Arlington
 
>>> A two-time Gatorade Player of the Year Nominee in the state of Kansas, Miller played for four seasons at UT-Arlington where she was a part of 95 wins including a 36-27 campaign in 2019 that finished with the Mavericks winning the National Invitational Softball Championship. For her career, Miller collected 52 hits which includes seven doubles and seven home runs. Additionally, she recorded 35 RBI and scored 21 runs.

Taylor Murphy
Sweeny, Texas | 3B/RHP | Lamar
 
>>> A two-time Texas All-State performer in high school, Murphy put in three seasons at Division I Lamar playing in 103 games with 99 starts. She recorded 39 hits, 19 RBI and scored 13 runs. Defensively, she registered 224 putouts with 142 assists. Additionally, she tossed 2.0 in the circle for the Cards this past spring as she made the first two pitching appearances of her collegiate career.
 
Kiana Pogroszewski
Ephraim, Utah | RHP | Bossier Parish CC
 
>>> A second-team NJCAA Region XIV East All-Conference selection this past spring, Pogroszewski posted a 17-0 record for BPCC in 22 starts totaling 105.0 innings pitched. She carried a 2.60 ERA as a sophomore and tossed ten complete games with 96 total strikeouts.
 
Baylie Thornhill
Baton Rouge, La. | RHP | LSU/Ohio
 
>>> A three-time all-district performer at St. Joseph's Academy in Baton Rouge, Thornhill made stops at South Alabama, LSU and Ohio before landing in Magnolia. The right-hander, in her final year for the Bobcats in 2020, appeared in 14 games with eight starts in the circle where she recorded three complete games, two saves and picked up a win in 55.1 innings pitched. She fanned 36 and allowed only eight hits.
 
Destiny Vasquez
Norwalk, Calif. | RHP/UT | Lee University
 
>>> A two-time California Junior College Pitcher of the Year, Vasquez earned All-America honors while at Cypress College in 2017. Two years later, she was named Orange Empire Conference MVP and garnered all-state honors at Fullerton College. Vasquez transferred to Division II Lee University of the Gulf South Conference and in a shortened 2020 season, she won six games, struck out 76 batters, and owned a 2.10 ERA in 70.0 innings pitched.

Sydney Ward
Paris, Ark. | RHP | Crowder College
 
>>> As a sophomore at Crowder College, Ward posted an 11-1 record with the fourth-most strikeouts in all of junior college softball with 237. She owned an 11.9 K/7 rating, posted a 1.26 ERA and tossed 11 complete games in 139.1 innings of work. Ward earned All-Region XVI first-team honors and was named to the Region XVI All-Tournament team following the Roughriders' runner-up performance in the tournament. Ward helped Crowder post a 47-8 record in 2021.

Anderson added, "There is so much talent top to bottom and the team chemistry is outstanding. We will continue to grind this fall and do what we know it takes to continue to compete at a National Level…Team 24 will be ready to continue the tradition of winning that is synonymous with Mulerider Softball."