For the first time since 2019, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff softball team is in the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament.
The Lady Lions begin their postseason run at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday against SWAC east champs Florida A&M at the Gulfport Sportsplex in Gulfport, Miss.
West No. 4-seed UAPB (19-28, 8-14 SWAC) was picked to finish sixth in the west division in the preseason poll but picked up critical series wins against Alcorn State and Grambling State to reach the tournament.
East No. 1-seed Florida A&M (23-18, 19-5) was picked third in the east but won every SWAC series it played to claim the division title.
The tournament features a double elimination format. UAPB and FAMU are joined by West No. 2-seed Texas Southern (19-17, 13-8) and East No. 3-seed Bethune-Cookman (18-30, 16-8) on one side of the bracket.
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TSU and Bethune will play in the opening game at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. The winner will face the winner between UAPB and FAMU at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, while the two losers will play in an elimination game at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The other half of the bracket opens with games between West No. 1-seed Prairie View A&M and East No. 4-seed Alabama State, and East No. 2-seed Jackson State and West No. 3-seed Southern.
The Lady Lions are limping into the tournament having lost six straight games. They won two of their first three SWAC series by sweeping Alcorn State and winning two of three against Grambling State, both at home, but did not win another series.
UAPB is led by freshman pitcher Kayla Adams (12-9). She has a league-best 1.51 ERA overall, though her 1.88 ERA in SWAC games ranks fifth. She leads the SWAC with 119 strikeouts in conference play, 194 overall.
Sophomore pitcher Danika Bryant (2-8) has a 3.34 ERA in SWAC games, good for 10th in the league.
UAPB’s weakness this season has been hitting. The Lady Lions rank 11th with a .216 team batting average in SWAC games, and their 66 runs in conference play also ranks 11th.
UAPB was shut out seven times in SWAC play. Three of Adams’ SWAC losses came by 1-0 scores.
The Lady Lions’ first opponent, Florida A&M, has the league’s second-best batting average at .358 and the best team ERA at 1.75. Pitcher Zoryana Hughes (13-3) boasts a 0.94 ERA in SWAC play, second-best in the conference. Samantha Smith (10-9) is eighth with a 2.47.
The Lady Rattlers have three hitters batting above .400 in SWAC play, led by Mia Blasingane’s .481. UAPB’s leading hitter, Amari Broughton, is hitting .323 in the SWAC.
Between UAPB’s potential second-round opponents, Bethune-Cookman leads the SWAC with a .361 batting average, while Texas Southern ranks sixth, hitting .301. TSU’s 2.20 team ERA is second only to FAMU, and Bethune-Cookman’s 3.12 team ERA ranks fourth.
UAPB went 1-3 against TSU this season. The Lady Lions did not face either Florida A&M or Bethune-Cookman, as the SWAC only schedules regular season conference games between divisional foes.
The tournament is scheduled to run through at least Friday, when the final team standing from the winner’s bracket will face the team that emerges from the loser’s bracket at 2:30 p.m. If the loser’s bracket team wins that game, the two will play again Saturday at 11 a.m. to decide the champion.