Setting the Scene
- Fresh off of their first Great American Conference victory of the season – a four game sweeping of Arkansas-Monticello – SWOSU Softball looks to continue their momentum and get back into the conference standings race with another home series against Southern Nazarene this weekend
- The Bulldogs currently sit 11th in the conference standings, but are just two games out of what would be the eighth and final playoff spot that is currently held by Oklahoma Baptist with a 7-13 league record
- Last season, SWOSU managed to only win one of four games against the Crimson Storm on the road in Bethany
- This weekend marks the second consecutive weekend at home for the Dawgs and will continue their 10-game homestand that will go through next Tuesday when Northwestern comes to town for an afternoon conference doubleheader

The Opponent
Southern Nazarene (10-18, 7-11 GAC)
- The Crimson Storm sit seventh in the current GAC standings having played two less conference games than most of the league
- They are hitting .275 as a team (10th in GAC) with three individual players above the .300 average mark
- Mahina Sauer (.385) leads the team in batting average, followed by Riley Brown (.320) and Caitlyn Curlee (.318)
- In the circle, SNU has a 4.79 team ERA with Katelyn Brown logging a team high 103.1 innings pitched with a 3.45 ERA

The Coaches
SWOSU: Kim Maher (23-58, 2nd season)
- Enters year two of her time at the helm of SWOSU Softball looking to continue the rebuilding process of the program
- Named the fourth head coach in SWOSU Softball history on June 2, 2016, bringing with her a wealth of experience from the collegiate, professional and international levels of softball
- Spent eight seasons as the head coach at Purdue University, leading the Boilermakers to 240 victories and two NCAA Tournament appearances from 2006-13
- Previously coached at California-Berkeley as an assistant coach from 2000-05 following a playing career with USA Softball and the Women's Professional Softball League (WPSL)

SNU: Tere Webber (348-361, 14th season)
- A two-time Conference Coach of the Year, Webber enters her 14th season at the helm of SNU Softball
- The Crimson Storm's third place finish in the GAC Tournament in 2016 is the farthest SNU has ever reached in the GAC Championships
- Webber is a 1978 graduate of Southern Nazarene University and a 1974 graduate of Enid High School

SWOSU Notes
- The Bulldogs are coming off of a weekend series against UAM where they tallied at least seven runs in all four games which included a 9-1 (5 Inn.) run rule in the opening game
- For her efforts at the plate, Sidney Kirk earned the GAC's nod for Player of the Week after hitting 7-for-14 in the series with three home runs, one double, and six RBI
- Amanda Moreno, Rileigh Ricken, and Kinsey Skroh all also tallied seven hits in the series with Ricken hitting a team best .700 (7-for-10) against UAM
- Skroh drove in a team best seven runs on the weekend and she now ranks second on the team this season with 15 RBIs total
- In the circle, Ricken also collected a pair of wins against the Cotton Blossoms in 9.2 innings of work
- Miranda Grover, responsible for the other two wins last weekend, led SWOSU's pitchers with a 1.62 ERA in her three appearances last Friday and Saturday
- SWOSU's .289 team batting average this season now ranks them eighth around the league in the category
- On the base paths, the Dawgs rank third in the GAC having stolen 44-of-57 bases

Looking Ahead
- Next week SWOSU wraps up their 10-game homestand with Northwestern on Tuesday (April 3) before hitting traveling to Shawnee over the weekend to battle the Oklahoma Baptist Lady Bison