BENTONVILLE, Ark. – SWOSU Softball makes its return to the Great American Conference Softball Championships for the first time since 2019 and is set to face 2-seeded Oklahoma Baptist in the quarterfinals on Thursday, May 1 at 3:30 pm.

The Bulldogs (22-24, 14-19 GAC) ended tied for seventh place with Henderson State in the final GAC Standings and was awarded the No. 7 seed thanks to a direct tiebreaker with the Reddies from head-to-head matchups. 22 wins this year marked the most since 2012.

All-time in the GAC Tournament, SWOSU holds a 2-5 record. They've made trips to Bentonville in 2012, 2013, and 2019.

Against Oklahoma Baptist in the regular season, SWOSU went 1-2. They fell to the Bison in a close series series played February 28-March 1 in Shawnee, dropping games one and two by scores of 3-2 and 8-4 before closing out the series with a 2-1 win. SWOSU had the slight edge in the series with 21 hits to OBU's 19. The Bulldog bats hit .259 as a lineup. The Bison were limited to .257, an impressive mark considering they finished third in the league by season's end with a .301 collective team batting average. Alexis Taylor gave SWOSU six strong innings in that 2-1 win, striking out 11 and holding the Bison scoreless until a solo home run in the seven inning finally forced a pitching a chance.   

SWOSU is arguably one of the hottest teams right now as winners of nine of their last 10 games to close out the regular season. They needed their best ball late, using three straight series victories over Ouachita, Henderson, and Arkansas Tech to solidify their trip to the postseason.  

In the month of April, the Dawgs finished 10-4. They suffered a 2-1 series loss to Southeastern before rattling off the impressive finish to the conference season which included a doubleheader midweek sweep over Northwestern. SWOSU, who finished the season batting .284 as a team, hit .308 in the month of April behind five Bulldogs who were over the .300 mark including Katie Boline (.432) and Chesnie Hewitt (.404) both over .400.

Hewitt led the team at the plate all year, finishing as the lineup leader in nearly every category. Her six triples ranked second in the GAC, while her total bases were fourth. She had 13 doubles, six triples, eight home runs, and 33 RBI during the regular season. Boline was right underneath Hewitt in third on the league's triples list with five of her own.

Hewitt enters the postseason riding a 10-game hitting streak. Kaylee Barkley has had hits in nine straight games. Boline has had a hit in 14 out of her last 15 games and has reached base safely 15 straight games.

Four in total finished the regular season with batting averages above the .300 threshold. Aside from Hewitt, Jadyn Hook (.310), Kaylee Barkley (.333), and Riley Lusk (.336) all did so. Lusk was second on the team with 11 doubles and 27 RBIs.

In the circle, freshman Alexis Taylor carried SWOSU's workload with 137.2 innings on the year. She finished 14-10 with a 3.41 ERA and seven complete games to her credit. She limited opponents to a .277 batting average collectively and struck out 106 foes. In April, she was 6-2 with four CGs.

Jaycee McKee has been SWOSU's go-to reliever this season. She saw action in 25 games, racking up 79.2 innings and five saves. Kaylee Barkley has been effective in spots as well, having allowed just one run in her final three appearances to end the year.