Tournament Bracket
Streaming on Southland Conference Digital Network
Tournament Home

NATCHITOCHES, La. — After tying last season's program record for wins, the 2013 Central Arkansas softball Bears will look to accomplish something last year's team could not – win in the postseason.

The 4th-seeded Bears (36-18, 15-10 Southland) make their second straight appearance in the Southland Conference tournament, squaring off against 5th-seeded Lamar (24-33, 14-130 in the tournament opener at 11 a.m on the campus of Northwestern State. A victory would give the Bears not only a program record for wins in a season, but would also be the school's first Southland tournament win – having been swept out of last year's tournament in the Bears' first-ever appearance.

The two teams met less than two weeks ago, with the Bears sweeping the Lady Cardinals 7-5, 2-0 and 7-5 on April 27 and 28 – the last win coming on a walk-off grand slam by senior catcher Melanie Bryant in the final home game for the Bears' seniors.

Senior pitcher Kelsie Armstrong (28-12) – the league's Pitcher of the Year – enters the tournament at second place on the Southland career strikeout list with 1,028, tying former pro, Olympian and NCAA All-American Jennie Finch (Arizona, 1999-2002) for 64th in Division I history.

Freshman outfielder Sam Forrest comes in with 74 hits and 42 runs scored, each just three off the Central Arkansas season record. Forrest's hit total leads all Southland players for the season, and she is third in runs scored, doubles (15) and total bases (102), and fifth in batting average (.387).

Senior second baseman Melissa Bryant, a first-team all-conference selection, is seventh among Southland players with a .379 batting average, third in hits (67), second in doubles (16 – one off the school single-season record) and ninth in on-base percentage (.439).

The winner of Thursday morning's game will move on to face top-seeded McNeese State (38-13, 19-5) at 4 p.m., while the loser will be relegated to an elimination game on Friday afternoon at 1:30.

All tournament games will be streamed live on the Southland Conference Digital Network. The championship game will be available exclusively on ESPN3.