Tournament Homepage
No. 4 Harding (31-24) vs. No. 5 East Central (32-23)
Location: Bentonville, Ark. (GAC Tournament)
When: Thursday, 4 p.m.
Coaches:
Harding – Phil Berry (31-24, 1st season)
East Central – Destini Anderson (8th Season)
Live Stats and Live Video – Available on a link at HardingSports.com
Harding
- Harding will be playing in its first Great American Conference Tournament this weekend in Bentonville, Ark. The Lady Bisons earned the No. 4 seed in the tournament as they went 22-18 in GAC games this season. Harding will be taking on East Central the No. 5 seed at 4 p.m., on Thursday at the Tiger Athletic Complex at Bentonville High School.
- If Harding wins, the Lady Bisons will play the winner between No. 1 seed Southeastern Oklahoma and the No. 8 seed Ouachita Baptist at 8 p.m., on Thursday at the Tiger Athletic Complex. If Harding losses, the Lady Bisons will play the loser of that game at 8 p.m., at Memorial Park in Bentonville.
- Harding heads into the tournament with a 31-24 overall record. The Lady Bisons were one of six teams from the GAC that won 30 games this season.
- Harding went 5-3 this season in neutral site games. It will be the Lady Bisons first neutral site game since the Arkansas-Monticello Tournament in the third week of the season.
- Harding is coming off a bye week. The Lady Bisons haven't played since April 22 as they traveled to Delta State in a non-conference doubleheader. Harding split with the Lady Statesmen as the Lady Bisons won the first game 7-3 but fell in the second 7-2. In Harding's win, Amanda Berdon knocked in three runs and Brookelynn Moon and Courtney Derrick both had three hits.
- Harding has a .316 team batting average that ranks third in the GAC, ninth in the Central Region and 53rd in NCAA Division II. The Lady Bisons have nine players that are hitting over .300. Harding is led by Courtney Derrick who is hitting .395 which ranks eighth in the GAC.
- Courtney Derrick leads the GAC in hits with 79. She also leads the team in stolen bases with 21, ranking her tied for fourth in the GAC. Derrick leads the team in multiple hit games with 26. In 15 games she had two hits and in 11 games she had three hits.
- Amber Rollins leads the Lady Bisons in the circle with a 2.72 ERA which ranks sixth in the GAC. Rollins ranks tied for third in the GAC in wins with 16. She also ranks second in the GAC, fourth in the Central Region and ranks 17th in NCAA Division II in strikeouts with 194.
- Carolyn Clayton has a six game hitting streak heading into the tournament. Amanda Berdon had a 13 game hitting streak earlier this season.
- Brookelynn Moon and Amanda Berdon lead the team with 31 RBI. They are also one and two in homeruns as Berdon leads the team with 10 and Moon has six.
- Harding ranks second, behind East Central, in the GAC in batters struck out with 277. The Lady Bisons lead the GAC in batters struck out looking with 93.
East Central
- East Central is located in Ada, Okla., and has an enrollment of 5,727.
- East Central heads into the tournament with a 32-23 overall record and the Lady Tigers will be the No. 5 seed after going 22-18 in GAC games this season. East Central is 5-5 this season in neutral site games.
- The Lady Tigers are coming off a home series against Ouachita Baptist last weekend. East Central won the series 3-1 as the Lady Tigers won the first three games.
- In its last 14 games, East Central has won 11 of them. The Lady Tigers swept Southwestern Oklahoma, split with Northwestern Oklahoma and defeated Rogers State in non-conference action.
- East Central leads the GAC with a .331 team batting average. They are led by Autumn Suydam who ranks fifth in the GAC in hitting with a .400 batting average. Suydam ranks second behind Leah Tigert, who has 64, in hits with 60.
- Jordynn Vanplet ranks fifth in the GAC in homeruns with 13 and leads the GAC in runs batted in with 56, averaging 1.06 per game.
- East Central is led in the circle by Lacey Paulk with a 2.64 ERA in 13 appearances. Sydney Dow and Brianna Nunley are the Lady Tigers two starting pitchers. Dow has a 3.36 ERA and a 12-4 record and Nunley has a 3.51 ERA and an 11-11 record.
Series
- Harding leads the series 3-1.
- When the two teams met in Searcy earlier this season, Harding won the first (4-1), second (8-2) and third (8-6) games in the series. The Lady Bisons were led by Carolyn Clayton who hit .545 with six hits, two doubles and four RBI. Mackenzie Jones also hit over .500 in the series with four hits and three RBI. Marley Edwards and Amanda Berdon both had a homerun. Amber Rollins made three appearances in the series with a 2-1 record and a 3.06 ERA. She struck out 21 batters in 16 innings pitched.
