BENTONVILLE, Ark.—For the eighth straight season, the Southern Nazarene University Softball team gets set to travel to Bentonville, Arkansas for the Great American Conference Championship tournament. The Crimson Storm have never failed to reach the conference tournament as they have qualified all eight years of eligibility.
Southern Nazarene holds an all-time record of 9-11 in the conference tournament. Last season, the Crimson Storm were the No. 4 seed and won the opening game against No. 5 Oklahoma Baptist before falling 2-0 in a tough extra inning game with No. 1 overall seed Arkansas Tech.
This season, Southern Nazarene once again opens with Oklahoma Baptist, but in a very different matchup. Oklahoma Baptist enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed after winning the GAC regular season championship. They are currently riding a 17 game winning streak which includes five run-rule victories. The Bison defeated SNU in all three matchups during the regular season, although all three matchups were decided by two or fewer runs, including an 8-7 OBU win in extra innings in the last matchup.
Southern Nazarene is led offensively by Liana Heshiki and Hailey Evans. Heshiki has followed up a tremendous freshman campaign with an even better sophomore year. This season, she has racked up a .401 average with 19 doubles, a .559 slugging percentage, and .469 on-base percentage, leading to All-GAC First Team selection for the second straight season.
Evans, another sophomore, has been the top power bat in the GAC this season as she leads the conference with 13 home runs, 106 total bases, and 52 RBIs. She was named to the All-GAC Second-Team as a third baseman.
Inside the circle, it has been a full staff effort for Southern Nazarene this season. Katelyn Woodard, Maddie Southerland, Janie Worthington, and Olivia Hernandez have all pitched at least 64 innings this season, and each boast an ERA of 3.64 or better. Woodard leads the team in that category with a 3.03 ERA, while Hernandez leads the team in innings pitched at 105.2 and strikeouts with 135.
OBU features one of the top pitchers in the nation in Kayleigh Jones. She leads in the conference in nearly every pitching category, boasting an ERA of 0.66 in 211.1 innings pitched. She has earned 30 wins for the season with 24 complete games and 13 shutouts. She surpassed 300 strikeouts for the second consecutive season.
Coming in as the No. 8 seed and having to take on the regular season champions will be a tall task for Southern Nazarene, but they have shown they can hang with anyone this season. SNU has three wins against top-25 teams this season, including an upset over then No. 1 Rogers State back in February. In their last meeting with Oklahoma Baptist, SNU rallied from five down in the bottom of the seventh inning to force an extra inning, but eventually fell 7-6 in eight innings.
SNU meets OBU in the second game of the tournament at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 4.
If SNU could get past Oklahoma Baptist, they would meet either No.4 Southeastern Oklahoma State, or No. 5 Arkansas Tech in the GAC semifinals. The championship game is set for Saturday, May 6th at 12:30 p.m. All games will be played at the Tiger Athletic Complex in Bentonville, Arkansas.
