Arkansas Tech will continue a challenging portion of its 2012 softball schedule by hosting the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs for a four-game Great American Conference series at the Chartwells Women’s Sports Complex in Russellville this weekend.
The Golden Suns (11-17 overall, 5-9 GAC) and the Bulldogs (25-8, 12-4) will play doubleheaders at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 31, and at noon on Sunday, April 1.
All four games can be heard on KCAB 980 AM and over the Internet at http://athletics.atu.edu.
Southwestern Oklahoma State is part of a tight three-team race for the inaugural GAC regular season softball championship.
The Bulldogs are in third place, but they are right on the heels of front-running Southeastern Oklahoma State (26-12, 16-4) and second-place Arkansas-Monticello (20-10, 8-2).
SWOSU has won four consecutive games and 12 of its last 14.
The Bulldogs’ success centers around starting pitchers Katie Raines (9-3, 1.59 ERA) and Katrina Johnson (10-3, 1.75 ERA), who rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the GAC in earned run average.
Arkansas Tech has lost five consecutive softball games and is in fifth place in the GAC standings. Southeastern Oklahoma State swept four games from the Golden Suns in Durant, Okla., last weekend.
Hayley Hudson (.378, two home runs, 15 runs batted in), Victoria Huie (.329, nine RBIs) and Siarra Gomez (.314, one home run, 12 RBIs) have been Arkansas Tech’s top hitters so far this season.
Huie (6-6, 3.82 ERA) and Rachel Keeton (4-10, 4.01 ERA) handle the majority of the pitching for the Golden Suns.
Other GAC softball series this weekend will see East Central (14-11, 4-6) tangle with Southern Arkansas (14-25, 4-12) in Magnolia and Arkansas-Monticello travel to Arkadelphia for a series with Ouachita Baptist (14-19, 4-10).
Southeastern Oklahoma State and Henderson State (15-24, 7-13) are both idle this weekend.
Click here to learn more about Arkansas Tech softball.
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