RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - The Arkansas Tech Golden Suns softball team is set to open play at the 2019 Great American Conference softball championships on Friday, May 3, facing Southwestern Oklahoma State in a 12:30 p.m. matchup.
 
GAME SCENARIOS
With a win, the Golden Suns will advance to play the winner of No. 3 Harding and No. 6 Southern Nazarene. Tech went 3-1 against the Lady Bisons and 2-2 against the Crimson Storm this season. 

FOLLOW THE ACTION
All games will be broadcast locally on KARV (610-AM and 101.3 FM), while live audio, video, and statistics are available at www.arkansastechsports.com.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Arkansas Tech leads the all-time series against Southwestern, 26-5. The Suns have also won 18 of the last 19 meetings with the Lady Bulldogs. This season, Tech swept SWOSU 7-1, 5-4, 14-9 and 6-5 in Russellville.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN SUNS
Arkansas Tech (41-13, 35-7 Great American Conference) enters tournament play as No. 14 in the NFCA Top 25 and No. 4 in the NCAA Central Region rankings and will be the No. 2 seed after a second-place finish in the regular season. The Golden Suns will be playing in their seventh straight GAC tournament and will look to defend last year's GAC Tournament Championship.
 
Tech has hit its stride at the right time, finishing the 2019 regular season on a 13-game winning-streak. Last weekend the Suns swept Ouachita, helping Tech reach the 40-win plateau for the second straight year and the sixth time in program history.
 
The Suns hit .326 this season as a team, which ranks second in the conference. Tymber Riley, the reigning GAC Freshman of the Week, paces the Suns with a .439 batting average. She also has sent a team-high 11 balls over the fence. Seniors Megan Goodnight (.399) and Sarah Coronado (.390) follow right behind Riley. Goodnight has team-highs in hits (73), runs (46), doubles (15) and total bases (112), while Coronado ranks second in hits (57) and total bases (97).
 
In the circle, the Suns have three pitchers that have picked up 11 or more wins this season, led by Goodnight's 13-1 record. Bailey Shaffer (11-4) has registered a team-low 3.07 ERA, while Kristen Dempsey (12-3) has struck out a team-high 98 batters.

SCOUTING THE LADY BULLDOGS
Southwestern Oklahoma State (21-32, 20-24 GAC) enters tournament play as the No. 7 seed. The Lady Bulldogs finished the regular season on a four-game losing streak after being swept by East Central in the season finale.
 
The Lady Bulldog offense is led by the trio of Amanda Moreno, Hannah Morris and Hannah Franklin. Both Moreno and Morris are batting .356 while Franklin is batting .350. Moreno also boasts team-highs in runs (47), doubles (16), home runs (14), RBIs (39) and stolen bases (19).
 
Alisa Friesen and Kaytlin Donaldson headline the SWOSU pitching rotation. Friesen has posted a 12-12 record with a 4.73 ERA in 137.2 innings, while Donaldson is 5-14 with a 6.14 ERA in 102.2 innings.