RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – On Wednesday, January 21, the Great American Conference released its 2026 Softball Preseason Coaches Poll, and starting right where they left off is Head Coach
Jason Anderson's Muleriders, as Southern Arkansas has been selected as the league's preseason favorites. Entering the new year, the Muleriders are also receiving four votes in the DII National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) preseason top-25 poll.
The Muleriders were selected as the conference favorites after receiving 119 total points, 13 more than second, and nine out of the 12 first-place votes. Immediately after Southern Arkansas is the group that finished second in last season's GAC standings and tournament, the Oklahoma Baptist Bison. OBU earned 106 points and had the second-most first-place votes with two. In third, and receiving the final first-place vote with 103 points was the Harding Lady Bisons.
The top half of the preseason standings show a good mix of Arkansas and Oklahoma programs, with the mix being at 50-50. Listing off the remaining groups in the poll following Harding, at fourth is Southern Nazarene (88), tied for fifth is Arkansas Tech and Southeastern Oklahoma State (79), at seventh is Henderson State (52), at eighth is Southwestern Oklahoma State (51), at ninth is Arkansas-Monticello (37), at tenth is Ouachita Baptist (35), at eleventh is East Central (29), and at twelfth is Northwestern Oklahoma State (14).
Southern Arkansas enters the new season as the reigning Great American Conference champion, both during the regular season and the championship tournament. That feat marked the first time in the program's history that the Muleriders had claimed the GAC regular season and tournament championship.
Coming off of one of Southern Arkansas' best campaigns in program history, the Muleriders see four returning players from the starting nine from a year ago. Those four include
Regan Dillon,
America Rubio,
Payton Owens, and
Kelsie Adams. Both Dillon and Rubio are coming off of All-GAC-recognizing seasons, with Dillon being an All-GAC First Team returner and Rubio being an All-GAC Honorable Mention returner. Dillon also returns for her senior year as a 2025 D2CCA All-Central Region First Team member. While not in the starting nine, but often seen in the circle,
Kassie Rhodes comes back after being named an All-GAC Honorable Mention a year ago. In total, for returners, Southern Arkansas brings back 14 players from last season's squad. New to the unit, 19 Muleriders have been added to the roster, with nine of those being freshmen.
To start the new campaign off, the Muleriders will be traveling to Mansfield, Texas, for the Lonestar D2 Classic, in which the team will take one Metropolitan State University of Denver (Jan. 30 | 10:00 AM), Texas A&M-Kingsville (Jan. 30 | 12:15 PM), #9 Augustana (Jan. 31 | 10:00 AM), Lubbock Christian (Jan. 31 | 12:15 PM), Emporia State (Feb. 1 | 11:15 AM), and Drury (Feb. 1 | 1:30 PM).
