GAME INFORMATION
No. 1 ARKANSAS TECH GOLDEN SUNS 36-17 (26-7 GAC)	No. 8 ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO COTTON BLOSSOMS 17-32 (11-21 GAC)
Thursday, May 5 | 1:30 p.m. Tiger Athletic Complex | Bentonville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - Following a tense final weekend conference series at home against Southeastern where they picked up a 2-1 series victory to win their tenth straight conference series and claim the 2022 Great American Conference Regular Season Title, the Arkansas Tech softball team now prepares for the first round of the GAC Tournament which will be on Thursday, May 5 in Bentonville, Ark. with first pitch set to go at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.

The Golden Suns enter the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed in the conference which pits them against the No. 8 seeded Arkansas-Monticello Cotton Blossoms. Earlier this season, Arkansas Tech faced Arkansas-Monticello on the road in this years regular season conference series. The Golden Suns dropped the first game of the doubleheader to the Cotton Blossoms 1-4, but stormed back to win the second in a 9-0 five-inning run rule. The conference series closed out with Tech taking the final game 6-1 to earn the 2-1 conference series win this season over UAM on the road.

In the most recent release of the NCAA Regional Rankings that came out on Wednesday afternoon, the Golden Suns are the highest ranked team in the conference at fifth for the Central Region.

SCOUTING THE COTTON BLOSSOMS

Entering the tournament, Arkansas-Monticello finished the regular season at 17-32 overall with an 11-21 record in conference play and are coming off an 0-3 series sweep loss on the road against Southwestern Oklahoma State. Against GAC opponents the Cotton Blossoms picked up series wins against Northwestern Oklahoma State, Henderson State and Southeastern Oklahoma during the regular season.

As a team, the Cotton Blossoms are hitting .259 so far this season (319-for-1230) with 185 runs scored, 57 doubles, eight triples and 26 homeruns. Coming into the game, the Cotton Blossoms have two hitters with at least 115 at-bats hitting .300 or better and are led by Haley Cornell with a .322 average (38-for-118). Following Cornell is Hannah Holdbrook who has a .308 average at the plate so far this season (41-for-133).

In terms of power numbers, the Cotton Blossoms have nine total players that have hit at least one homerun on the year. Grace Neal leads the team in total homeruns with nine on the year, while Cornell follows behind with six. Caroline Tedder has hit three bombs so far this year while Maddie Pflegling and Christa Lannon have both launched a pair of homers. Averie Gunther, Summer Perkins, Alexis Pevehouse and Madison Gardiner make up the rest of the list of homerun hitters for UAM. The leaders in RBI's on the season are Neal with 33 and Cornell at 30, while  Tedder closes out the top group with 24.

In the circle, the Cotton Blossoms have a team ERA of 6.78 and have struckout 152 in 302.2 total innings.

Nine total pitchers have made at least one appearance in the circle this season so far for the Cotton Blossoms. Sam Stephens leads in starts with 20, while Jamie Franks has started 15. Stephens is 2-10 with a 5.89 ERA and has struckout 43 in 88.2 innings. Franks is 6-7 with a 7.01 ERA and has 15 strikeouts in 61.2 total innings.

In relief, Arkansas-Monticello has three in reserve on the pitching staff. Gunther leads the relievers with the best ERA among them at 5.63 with 18 total appearances on the season thus far. She is 4-3 with a save and has struckout 29 hitters in 40.0 innings. Maguire Estill is 1-4 on the year with an 8.57 ERA and has struckout 24 in 42.0 total innings. Closing out the list of relievers for the Cotton Blossoms is Maddie Chalenburg who is 1-3 on the year with an 8.49 ERA and has collected 22 strikeouts in 35.0 innings of work. Chalenburg has also logged a save on the season as well for Arkansas-Monticello.

TECH TIDBITS

The Golden Suns enter the GAC Tournament finishing the regular season at 36-17 overall with a league best 26-7 record among conference opponents, which earned them the regular season title. Tech is coming off a hard fought 2-1 conference series win at home last weekend against Southeastern Oklahoma. The Golden Suns closed out their last 10 games of the regular season with a 7-3 record and have ten straight conference series wins against Southern Arkansas, Harding, Arkansas-Monticello, Southern Nazarene, Oklahoma Baptist, Ouachita Baptist, Henderson State, Southwestern Oklahoma State, Northwestern Oklahoma State and Southeastern. The only team in the GAC the Golden Suns did not pick up the conference series win against in the regular season was their conference series opener on the road against East Central.

Offensively, the Golden Suns are hitting .277 as a team this season (386-for-1392) with 287 runs scored, 86 doubles, five triples and 61 homeruns. Entering the tournament, the Golden Suns have two batters with at least 150 at-bats hitting .400 or better and are led by Tymber Riley's .431 average (72-for-167). Caitlyn Wells also holds a solid average at the plate hitting .415 on the season (66-for-159).

In terms of power numbers, the Golden Suns boast 13 total players who have notched at least one homer on the year. Leading the charge in homeruns for Arkansas Tech is Riley who has launched 14 on the season. Wells follows behind Riley with 11 busted homers, while Makenzie Goins has whacked 10 and Shelby Chavers has six. Rounding out the list of homerun leaders for the Golden Suns is Holly Crutchfield with five and Brooke Prewitt with four. Leading Tech in RBI's on the season is Riley with 51 and Goins who has collected 45. Closing out the list for the Golden Suns is Wells with 44 RBI's on the season.

In the circle, the Golden Suns have a 2.00 team ERA and have struckout 322 batters in 357.1 total innings.

Eight total pitchers have made at least one appearance inside the circle for Arkansas Tech so far this season. Shannon Lasey leads the team in starts with 27. Bailey Buffington has 18 starts, while Maddy Prough has started seven games. Lasey is 16-7 when starting in the circle and holds a 1.44 ERA, the best among the Tech starters. The sophomore pitcher has also recorded 133 strikeouts in 141.1 innings pitched and has held opposing bats to just a .178 average at the plate. Lasey hit a career milestone two weekends ago as she logged her 200th career strikeout against Northwestern Oklahoma.The sophomore also notched a perfect game on the road against East Central earlier this season. Buffington is 13-6 with a 2.18 ERA and has collected 96 strikeouts in 106.0 innings of work. She is also holding opposing bats at the plate to just a .213 average. Against Northwestern, Buffington recorded a no-hitter shutting down the Ranger bats. Prough is 5-4 with a 2.88 ERA and has struckout 41 in 48.2 innings. Like the other two starters, Prough holds hitters to a low average of .230 at the plate.

In relief, Kaila Cartwright leads the Golden Suns with 25 total appearances, that includes a start and is 2-0 while boasting a 1.52 ERA. Cartwright has managed to log 44 strikeouts in 50.2f innings and leads the Golden Suns in saves with five. Lasey has two saves on the year and Prough has one to round out the group with saves.