With the 2019 Great American Conference Softball Tournament on the horizon, the SAU Lady Muleriders hold a slim lead over Arkansas Tech in the standings.
Thanks to a four-game sweep of Ouachita Baptist last weekend, SAU sits in first place with a 32-7 league mark, a half game ahead of the Golden Suns’ 31-7. Harding is in third place with a 24-16 record in the GAC.
All three teams have clinched spots in the GAC Tournament, set for May 1-4 in Bentonville.
The tournament will be double-elimination, with the top eight teams from the league competing.
The Lady Muleriders will host a pair of doubleheaders against Henderson State Friday and Saturday, prior to next week’s GAC Tournament.
Friday’s twinbill will begin at 4 p.m., followed by Saturday’s doubleheader at 1 p.m.
Against the Lady Tigers last week, SAU won by scores of 1-0, 6-0, 9-1 and 6-0.
SAU had six home runs in the second twinbill against the Lady Tigers.
Chelsea Fagan, with two homers on the day, now has 18 for the season, while, while Sarah Evans had two, giving her 10.
Faith Otts and Elisa Favela also homered.
GAC standings
SAU.................41-10, 23-7
Ark. Tech..........37-13, 31-7
Harding..........32-20, 24-16
SE Okla.........24-26, 22-18
SW Okla........21-28, 20-20
So. Nazerne...24-26, 19-20
East Central...22-24, 18-19
HSU...............25-27, 19-21
OBU...............19-28, 17-20
UAM..............23-23, 16-22
Okla. Bapist...16-36, 10-30
NW Okla............6-42, 6-34
Last year, the Lady Muleriders (60-11) had their winningest season in program history, finishing in third-place nationally.
Despite falling just short of the National Championship Best-of-3 Series, the Lady Muleriders captured the program’s second Central Region Title in three years, first outright regular season conference championship and numerous single-season team records.