SE Battles League-Leaders No. 17 Oklahoma Baptist Friday and Saturday

DURANT, Okla. – The Southeastern softball program heads to Shawnee, Okla., for a three-game series with No. 17 Oklahoma Baptist on March 27 and 28. The Savage Storm and Bison open with a single game at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 27, before playing a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at noon.
 
SERIES NOTES

• The blue and gold hold a three-game advantage in the all-time series, 22-18, after winning last season's series. However, the Storm will be looking for their first series win in Shawnee since 2016, when SE won three out of four over the Bison.

 
STORM REPORT
Southeastern enters the weekend looking back in the win column, as they fell to 6-9 in the conference standings after defeats to Harding recently and are 12-19 overall. Through five GAC series, the Storm won their first three over Henderson State, Southern Nazarene and Northwestern Oklahoma State, but have since lost back-to-back series to Arkansas Tech and Harding.
 
India McMurray picked up her tenth home run of the year during the series with Harding, notching one in the first game. The senior from Dallas ranks third in the GAC in home runs hit and is 16^th in all Division II with ten on the year. In addition, McMurray has tallied the second-most RBIs (20) for SE, while Emily Simmons leads the team with 21 on 22 hits. Both McMurray and Simmons rank inside the top 15 in RBIs across the GAC this season. Southeastern has driven in the seventh-most runs in the GAC with 107 and has recorded the fourth-most runs (128)
 
The blue and gold saw their overall batting average drop to .283 after the series with Harding, and the SE lineup is led by Iliana Olivares with a .390 average, while Susan Edwards paces the side with 43 hits. The Storm has six players with 20 or more hits, as Tristan Hopkins, McMurray and Lorryn Johnson each have 21 to join Olivares, Simmons and Edwards.
 
SE carries a 4.20 ERA into the series with Oklahoma Baptist, led by a trio of arms in the circle. Alyson Malone paces the pitching staff with a 2.37 ERA with a 4-4 record, and has struck out a team-high 55 batters. E. Simmons has made the most starts this season (10) and has 40 strikeouts across 65.2 innings of work, and is 4-6 in 17 appearances. Rounding out the staff, Trinity Oden has tossed 57.0 frames and holds a 3-7 record and a 4.79 earned run average.
 
SCOUTING No. 17 OKLAHOMA BAPTIST
Entering the weekend, No. 17 Oklahoma Baptist leads the GAC standings at 14-1 and is 28-5 overall after taking two of three at Ouachita Baptist. The Bison have been near perfect at home this season with a 10-1 record, but have yet to suffer a home loss in conference play, as they are 9-0 against GAC opponents.
 
Leading the charge for the Bison lineup is shortstop Greenlee Wells, who leads Division II with 17 home runs. Wells ranks second in the GAC with 44 hits on a .463 batting average and has ten doubles to go along with her 17 homers, and has batted in 54 runs, which ranks in the top five in DII. In the circle, OBU is led by a one-two punch from Jaycee Shaffer and Jaycee Kelln. Shaffer leads the team with a 16-1 record with 110 strikeouts and carries a 2.53 ERA, while Kelln is 11-2 with a 2.08 ERA and 88 strikeouts.