Setting the Scene- The Bulldogs return to the field for the first time in over a week to face Texas Woman's in Denton, Texas in a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 3 at 3 pm. Last week's series with Southern Nazarene was cancelled due to inclement weather
- SWOSU last faced the Pioneers in 2010 in Weatherford, emerging 3-2 winners
The CoachesSWOSU: Barbara Burnett (4-11, 1st season)- Burnett returns to her alma mater to lead the Bulldog softball program for the first time this spring
- She has spent the last four seasons among the junior college ranks at Independence Community College in Independnce, Kan. where she left as the all-time winningest coach in program history with a 112 wins
- While at Independence she led the Lady Pirates to back-to-back regional runners-up finishes while breaking numerous program records and ranking nationally in the Top Five in offensive production
- She has coached two National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-Americans, two National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Americans, 16 NJCAA All-Region selections and 13 All-Conference selections
Texas Woman's: Genny Stidham (34-19, 2nd season; 509-308-2 career, 18th season)- Genny Stidham returns for a second season in charge of the Pioneers
- She led the team to a 34-19 season her first year in charge, reaching the Lone Star Conference Tournament before qualifying for the NCAA South Central Region Tournament
- Developed eight All-LSC players, four All-South Central Region players and one All-American in her first season
- Prior to joining the staff at TWU, Stidham spent 16 years at Central Oklahoma where she won the NCAA National Championship in 2012 and made the NCAA National Tournament three times overall
The OpponentTexas Woman's (7-10)- The Pioneers last played a week ago in the St. Mary's (Texas) Invitational, going 2-3
- TWU is batting .340 as a team with a slugging percentage of .540. Kendra Sancet is TWU's leads the team at the plate, hitting .453 on a team-high 53 at-bats. She has hit five home runs and recorded 14 extra base hits so far this season
- The Pioneers have recorded 23 errors so far this season, averaging 1.3 errors per game. Katy Stephens has a team-high seven errors from her position at shortstop
- In the circle, Tori Bice holds a team-best 4-6 record while making 13 appearances. In 51.1 innings pitched, she has recorded 28 strikeouts, but has given up 71 hits and 48 runs for a 5.45 ERA
- The doubleheader will mark the Pioneers' first home games of the season
Last Time Out- The Bulldogs were swept by Arkansas-Monticello in a four-game series, losing by an average of two runs in the closely contested matchup
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Maci Brown led the team in batting average for those player who had at least 10 at-bats, going 5-11 at the plate with three RBI and one run
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Rileigh Ricken saw the most action in the circle, pitching 19.0 innings with a 5.21 ERA, but picked up two losses.
Molly Vivo was saddled with two losses as well in 9.1 innings of action
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Makensy Payne had a team-high OBP of .750
Checking the Standings- SWOSU (4-11, 0-4 GAC) is one of two teams to play a conference game and not record a win in the young season along with Ouachita Baptist (4-9, 0-4 GAC))
- Arkansas-Monticello (10-3, 0-4 GAC) and Southeastern Oklahoma State (8-7, 4-0 GAC) have grabbed the poll position after the first week of conference games
- Four other teams are at or above .500: Southern Arkansas (9-5, 3-1 GAC), SNU (6-6, 3-1 GAC), Henderson State (11-5, 2-2 GAC) and East Central (5-7, 2-2 GAC)
- Northwestern Oklahoma State (5-8, 1-3 GAC) and Harding (4-10, 1-3 GAC) are tied in seventh place
- Arkansas Tech (6-0) is the only team yet to play a conference game, but are set to take on ECU this weekend in Russellville, Ark.
Bulldog Facts- SWOSU is 0-2 in true road games this season, falling 15-14 and 11-8 to Tarleton State on the opening weekend of the season. The team averaged 12.5 hits per game in the doubleheader
- The bats are alive and well for the Bulldogs, as they are third in the conference with a batting average of .345 and boast a slugging percentage of .516. Brown has been the most consistent batter for SWOSU, batting .486 to rank eighth in the GAC. The Bulldogs averaged 10.5 hits per game against UAM
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Adrienne Martinez and
Kaity Rash are SWOSU's top sluggers, boasting slugging percentages of .841 and .824 respectively. They both rank in the top 10 in the league
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Ashley Jones has shown a knack for hitting runners in. She is tied for third in the conference with 17 RBI so far this season, and batted in a team-high four runners in the series against UAM. As a team, SWOSU has 89 RBI and is third in the conference
- SWOSU has the second-most home runs in the conference with 18. Martinez second in the conference with five, and Jones has gone yard four times to rank fourth
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Ashley Dunigan is seventh in the conference in stolen bases, recording five so far this season. She did not attempt a single steal in the UAM series
- Southwestern has an ERA of 5.51 and ranks 10th in the category. Ricken has an ERA of 5.21 to lead the team
- Ricken has appeared in the second-most games amongst pitchers this season, taking the circle 10 times so far. She has also pitched the third-most innings this season in the GAC with 48.1 innings of action under her belt
- SWOSU is second in the conference in putouts with 305, while Martinez has racked up 118 putouts of her own
- For the first time since joining the Great American Conference, the Bulldogs went 0-4 on the opening weekend
Looking Ahead- The Bulldogs return home next week for a four-game conference series against Henderson State March 13-14, with the first game on Friday starting at 1 pm
- SWOSU Softball will be hosting an alumni weekend in honor of those that have contributed to the program's history on the field
