The SAU Lady Muleriders, who ended last season as the No. 1-ranked team in NCAA Division II softball, is the unanimously pick to capture the 2021 Great American Conference title.
The Lady Muleriders picked up 121 points and 11 first-place votes, according to the GAC Preseason Softball Poll. It’s the fifth consecutive year that head coach Jason Anderson’s team has been picked atop the preseason poll.
Arkansas Tech received the other first-place vote and was tagged second. Others include Southern Nazarene (third), Harding (fourth), Southeastern Oklahoma Sate (fifth), Oklahoma Baptist (sixth), Henderson State (seventh), Arkansas-Monticello (eighth), Southwestern Oklahoma State (ninth), East Central (10th), Ouachita Baptist (11th) and Northwestern Oklahoma State (12th).
The Lady Muleriders return eight of nine starting position players from last season’s team that went 22-2 overall and ended the season No. 1 in the NFCA poll.
SAU also return 151.1 innings of 153.1 innings pitched from last season’s pitching staff, including 2018 GAC Pitcher of the Year Victoria Taylor, 2019 GAC Pitcher of the Year Sydney Wader and Elisa Favela, who has recorded three no-hitters in her two seasons.
At the plate, the Lady Muleriders return Favela, who hit .506 a season ago and is the school’s record-holder for career batting average (.405) and is top-three alltime in slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
Also returning is Laina Suesue, who has started every available game behind the plate in her two seasons in Magnolia; Alese Casper, who hit .380 and recorded four assists from center field; and 2018 All-American Faith Otts, who drew a team-high 19 walks last season.
Sarah Evans and Christina Hill return a combined 10 homeruns, and Jaxynn Dyson and Maeson Grace hit two homeruns each while offering solid defensive output for the Muleriders.
The Lady Muleriders open their season on February 12, when they host the Ronnie Hawkins/Mike McGhee Memorial in conjunction with Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist. They will play Mississippi College, Angelo State, Maryville, Texas A&M-Kingsville and St. Mary’s (TX) over the threeday event.
Conference play starts February 26 in Weatherford against Southwestern Oklahoma State, and the conference home opener is a week later on March 5 against Arkansas Tech.