MAGNOLIA, Ark. – It's May in Magnolia and that can only mean one thing for head coach Jason Anderson's Southern Arkansas University softball team….NCAA Regional Tournament time. For the seventh time in program history, and for the sixth straight season, Anderson's squad will be competing in the NCAA DII Central Regional Tournament, which is set to start tomorrow afternoon as the No. 7 seeded Muleriders will be taking on the host school and No. 2 seed in the University of Central Oklahoma at 1:00 on the campus of UCO in Edmond, Okla.

SAU comes into the weekend with a 37-16. The Muleriders won the Great American Conference regular season Championship, and finished second in the GAC tournament last weekend in Bentonville as they earned a bid to the Championship game but fell late to Arkansas Tech.

The Muleriders come into the Regional with a .309 team batting average. SAU has outhit their opponents 453-309 on the year while outscoring those 303-143. SAU will continue to rely on All-GAC First Teamer and Central Region First Teamer Jade Miller as they have all season. Miller who holds a team high .410 batting average continues to lead the team in many categories including hits (77), runs (49), and home runs (11), to go along with her 37 RBI which ranks second on the team. Alese Casper is second on the team with 56 hits, followed by Jaxynn Dyson with 54 hits. Dyson leads the team with 45 RBI, followed by Tiare Lee who has drove in 38 runs. Lee's 43 hits ranks fourth on the squad while Madison Miller (42 hits) rounds out the Mulerider players with 40+ base knocks. M. Miller ranks fourth on the team in RBI as well with 34. Lee and Gracie Kings are tied for third on the team with eight home runs apiece.

Sydney Ward and Kiana Pogroszewski both come into the regional with 133.2 innings pitched. Ward leads the team with a 16-3 record, while KP has earned 15 wins in the circle to go along with six losses. Ward leads the staff in strikeouts with 141, to go up against 104 hits given up. Ward has allowed 51 runs (44 earned). Pogroszewski has allowed 49 runs (34 earned) on 114 hits to go along with 129 strikeouts.
 
The Bracket

Augustana University and Arkansas Tech University will be the other two schools competing in the three-day event that spans from Thursday to Saturday. AUGIE comes into the tournament as the No. 3 seed, while ATU enters as the No. 6 seed. The winner of SAU's first round matchup against UCO will take on the winner of AUGIE and ATU on Friday at 1:00 p.m., while the loser of the first-round matchup will play an elimination game on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Scouting the Opponents - UCO

SAU's first round opponent in UCO comes into the regional as the No. 5 team in the nation with a 45-10 record. The Bronchos have been ranked inside the NFCA DII top-25 all year long. UCO finished as the runner up in the MIAA regular season, and then went 1-2 in their conference tournament. The Bronchos are batting .333 as a team and they have outhit their opponents 489-317, while outscoring them 397-144.

 UCO is led by Jacee Minter, as she led the team in batting avg (.422), runs (55), hits (73), RBI (68) and home runs (12). Shayla Harper comes in as the Bronchos second leading hitter as she collected 62 base knocks and 48 RBI on the season. Kylee Lynch has been the top performer in the circle for UCO as she holds a 24-3 record to go along with a 1.87 ERA. She has struck out 95 batters in 186.2 innings pitched, while allowing 59 runs (50 earned) on 149 hits. Isie Cox comes into tomorrow's matchup with a 10-4 record in the circle as she has seen 73.3 innings of action.  

AUGIE

Augustana enters post-season play with a 47-8 record to go along with an NSIC Regular Season Championship as well as an NSIC Tournament Championship. The nation's ninth ranked Vikings enter the post-season red hot as they have won 28 of their last 29 games. AUGIE has outhit their opponents 506-274 as they carry a .334 team average, and they have outscored their opponents 383-121.

The Vikings are led by Kendall Cornick who leads the team in avg (.453), hits (78), and runs (65), while also picking up 46 RBI. Torri Chute is second on the team with a .410 avg and 71 hits, while leading the team in RBI with 66. Mary Pardo leads the team with 20 home runs. The Vikings have two players with 20+ wins in the circle as Ashley Mickschl leads the team with a 27-5 record in 191.1 innings of work. She has allowed 133 hits and 59 runs (50 earned), while striking out 141. Amber Elliot is second on the team with a 21-2 record in 141.1 innings in the circle. She has allowed 52 runs (46 earned) on 119 hits while sitting down 136 batters on strikes.

ATU

The Golden Suns come into the weekend with a GAC Conference Tournament Championship under their belts as they took down SAU Sunday evening in the Championship game, to go along with a share of the GAC regular season title as well. ATU enters the Regional Tournament with a 39-17 overall record and a team batting average of .279. ATU has outhit its competition 410-289, while outscoring those 302-126.

The Golden Suns are led by GAC Player of the Year Tymber Riley who led the team in avg (.443), runs (60), hits (78), RBI (54), and home runs (16). Caitlyn Wells finished second on the team with a .402 avg, as she was also seconds in hits (68), RBI (44), and home runs (11). Shannon Lacey leads the Golden Suns in the circle as she holds a 1.28 ERA and an 18-7 record. Lacey has pitched 158.1 innings and has allowed 38 runs (29 earned), on 103 hits while striking out 144. Bailey Buffington comes in with a 13-6 record in 109.0 innings of action.

SAU comes into the tournament having seen three of the four teams already this season. SAU and AUGIE matched up back on Feb. 5^th in the SAU's second game of the season as AUGIE won 7-5. The Muleriders took on UCO two days later and lost a close one 3-2. The Golden Suns and Muleriders matched up in the regular season and ATU took the series 2-1, followed by one more win over SAU last weekend in the GAC tournament title game.