Softball Closes out the Regular Season at Ouachita Baptist

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern heads to Arkadelphia, Ark., for the final regular season GAC series of the season against Ouachita Baptist on May 1-2.
 
The Savage Storm and Tigers open the series with a single game on Friday, May 1, at 6 p.m. and will play a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at noon.
 
SERIES NOTES

• SE leads the all-time meetings with Ouachita 43-10, but the Tigers got the better of the Storm last year, winning the series. Southeastern is 17-6 when facing the Tigers in Arkadelphia, and the blue and gold have picked up series wins in their last four trips to the Natural State.

 
STORM REPORT
Southeastern (20-27, 12-17 GAC) heads into the final series of the regular season 12-17 in the GAC standings, which has them ranked seventh just ahead of Henderson State. The Storm stumbled on the road at East Central in their most recent league action, but holds a two-game edge over their rivals, who are ninth in the conference rankings.
 
Alyson Malone picked up her second no-hitter this season in a 10-0 win in game two against ECU, and her fourth shutout of the season. Malone finished 1-1 in the series to move to 8-8 in the circle with a 2.66 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 110.2 innings of work across 28 appearances. Sharing the duties in the circle, Emily Simmons has a 7-9 record with a 4.72 ERA in 95.0 frames of work and 61 strikeouts.
 
SE enters the series batting .290 as a team with 213 runs scored on 374 hits, led by Susan Edwards, who paces the team with 60 hits on a .370 average. Edwards leads the blue and gold with 13 doubles and 35 runs scored, which both rank in the top 10 of the GAC. The sophomore from Celina, Texas, has 18 multiple-hit games this season, including eight games with three or more hits.
 
Backing Edwards in the Storm lineup are Iliana Olivares and E. Simmons, who have 53 and 39 hits, respectively. Olivares is batting .356 with 10 doubles and 23 runs batted in, while E. Simmons has seven doubles, seven home runs and a team-high 39 RBIs. Olivares and Simmons are two of four batters with 20 runs driven in this season, as India McMurray is second with 29 and Tally Rowland is fourth with 21.  
 
SCOUTING OUACHITA BAPTIST
Ouachita Baptist (20-28, 14-16 GAC) was one of the most recent teams to lock its spot to the GAC Tournament after grabbing a series win at home over rivals Henderson State. The Tigers took two of three to earn their fourth straight conference series win and sixth overall this season.
 
Pacing the Ouachita lineup in hits and batting average is Remington Adams, who has 52 hits on a .333 average, registering nine doubles, two triples and four home runs. Emily Reed has been the biggest bat for the Tigers with 17 home runs – second most in the GAC – and a team-leading 10 doubles and 44 runs driven in across 43 hits. In the circle, Catie Amador is the feature arm for Ouachita with 145.2 innings pitched, and has a 2.59 ERA with 94 strikeouts and a 10-11 record.