MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Fresh off of their fourth straight regular season Great American Conference Championship, head coach
Jason Anderson and the Southern Arkansas University softball team will now turn their focus towards the GAC Championship tournament this weekend in Bentonville. The Muleriders finished the regular season with a 35-15 (26-7 GAC) record and enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed. The three-day tournament will be played at Bentonville High School and will take place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with the championship game on Saturday afternoon at 12:30 p.m.
SAU will be taking on Ouachita Baptist University 18-28 (14-19 GAC) in their round one matchup, as they enter the tournament as the No. 7 seed. The round one matchup is set for Thursday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. The Muleriders swept the Tigers in the regular season as they won 11-1, 10-1, and 11-4. The winner of the first-round matchup will take on the winner of Harding and Southeastern Oklahoma on Friday at 11:00 a.m.
The Muleriders finished the regular season with a team batting average of .309. SAU outscored its opponents 287-131, while they outhit them 427-284. Six players on the 2022 GAC Championship squad finished with a .300 average or higher, as
Jade Miller led the team with a .410 batting average.
Tiare Lee finished with a .382 clip, while
Gracie King posted a .347.
Alese Casper (.329),
Madison Miller (.320) and Jaxyyn Dyson (.312) round out the .300+ hitters for SAU.
In addition to holding the highest average on the team, J. Miller also led the team in hits with 74, and in runs with 47. Casper finished second on the team in both hits (53) and runs (40). Dyson collected 49 hits to finish third on the team, while Lee finished with 42 hits, followed by
Madison Miller with 40.
Mariah Hamilton (35),
Gracie King (33), and
Taylor Murphy (33) all finished with 30+ hits for SAU.
Dyson finished with the team lead in RBI with 43, followed by Lee with 37 RBI. J. Miller finished with 36 RBI followed by M. Miller with 32, and King with 24. J. Miller hit 11 home runs on the season to lead the squad, followed by Dyson and Lee who both hit eight blasts. M. Miller and King both finished the regular season with seven home runs, followed by
Sarah Evans with six. M. Miller led the team with 15 doubles, followed by Dyson (13) and J. Miller and Casper who both finished with 11 two baggers.
Sydney Ward led the team in wins with 16, and also led the pitching staff in strikeouts with 130 and in innings pitched with 125.1. Ward finished with a 2.29 ERA as she allowed 48 runs (41 earned) on 95 hits.
Kiana Pogroszewski finished with the team lead in ERA as she posted a 1.83 to go along with 13 wins and 120 strikeouts in 122.2 innings of work. The Utah native allowed 42 runs (32 earned) on 102 hits.
Baylie Thornhill finished with a 4-3 record with a 1.92 ERA in 47.1 innings of work. Thornhill allowed 16 runs (13 earned) on 49 hits.
Macie Welch picked up two wins in the circle in 38.2 innings.
The Tigers come into the tournament with a .261 team batting average. They have been outscored 258-174, and outhit 387-321. Hope Waid was OBU's top hitter as she led the team in hits with 46, and batting average (.371). Heather Brown finished with 40 hits, while Callie Jourdan collected 37. Brown holds the team lead in RBI with 23 followed by Jourdan with 22. Jillian Jones and Lacy Ornelas with three home runs.
Madison Miller of Ouachita led the team with a 9-11 record, 141.0 innings pitched, and 119 strikeouts. She allowed 90 runs (60 earned) on 147 hits. Nikki Schneider finished with a 6-11 record as she pitched 89.0 innings and allowed 101 runs (79 earned) on 138 hits.
You can find live coverages links to the GAC tournament
here.
