Harding (3-7, 0-0 GAC) at Bethany, Okla. (3-5, 0-0 GAC)
Location: Bethany, Okla.
When: Friday and Saturday
Time: 1 p.m. DH, 12 p.m. DH
Coaches:
Harding – Phil Berry (35-33, 2nd season)
Southern Nazarene – Tere Webber (278-271, 11th season)
Live Stats – Available on a link at HardingSports.com
HARDING
- Harding will open the Great American Conference season on Friday when they travel to Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Oklahoma for a four game series starting at1 p.m. The two teams will wrap up its season on Saturday with a doubleheader that starts at 12 p.m.
- The Lady Bisons head into the series with a 3-7 overall record. Harding is coming off the Arkansas-Monticello Classic held in Bentonville, Arkansas last weekend. The Lady Bisons went 1-3 in the Classic but only lost the three games by a combined four runs.
- Harding is 1-0 in conference openers. The Lady Bisons defeated Southern Nazarene 4-2 to start GAC play last season in Searcy. Harding went onto win the series 4-1.
- Harding ranks seventh in the GAC with a .307 team batting average. The Lady Bisons also have a team .381 on base percentage and a .448 slugging percentage.
- Harding ranks third in the GAC in pitching with a 3.61 ERA. Senior Amber Rollins ranks fifth in the GAC with a 2.21 ERA. She also ranks fifth in strikeouts with 24.
- Sophomore Courtney Derrick leads Harding with a .424 batting average in 33 at bats. She has drove in four runs on 14 hits and has one double and one triple. Sophomore Mackenzie Jones is hitting .414 this season with seven RBIs.
- As a team, the Lady Bisons have hit 18 doubles which ranks third in the GAC. Mackenzie Jones leads the conference in doubles with six.
- Harding has been aggressive on the bases with 14 stolen bases this season on 16 attempts. Courtney Derrick is tied for second in the GAC with six and Kimmy Hendricks ranks tied for eighth with three.
- Hendricks also has drawn eight walks this season to rank tied for third in the GAC.
- Harding holds a 2-6 record in the state of Oklahoma. The Lady Bisons went 1-3 in each series with Northwestern Oklahoma and Southeastern Oklahoma last season.
SOUTHERN NAZARENE
- Southern Nazarene heads into the series with a 3-5 overall record and it will be playing its first conference games of the season.
- Southern Nazarene's wins came against Tarleton State (8-6), Southwest Baptist (3-2) and Rockhurst (11-1).
- Southern Nazarene finished last season with a 19-34 overall record and finished 10th in the GAC standings with a 12-26 record.
- The Crimson Storm is led by senior outfielder Kylie Lang who ranks second in the GAC with a .652 batting average. She leads the team with 15 hits and has crossed the plate nine times this season. Lang also ranks second in the GAC with a .724 on base percentage.
- Junior pitcher Kayla Wyatt has a 3.50 ERA for Southern Nazarene. She has made six appearances, gave up 26 hits and struck out 35 batters.
SERIES
- Harding leads the series 3-1.
- Amber Rollins posted a 1.00 ERA against Southern Nazarene last season. She pitched 14 innings and struck out 14 batters. Sophomore Amanda Berdon led the Lady Bisons with a .333 batting average against the Crimson Storm. She had three hits and two runs scored. Kylie Lang led Southern Nazarene with a .583 batting average and had seven hits in the series.
