Lake Charles, Louisiana – The Central Arkansas Softball Bears, one of just two teams in the Southland Conference to earn a spot in each of that past seven Southland Conference Tournaments, open postseason play on Tuesday. The Bears, who earned the fifth seed in this year's tournament, take on eighth-seeded Sam Houston State at 11:00 AM.

Central Arkansas (28-24, 16-11) met Sam Houston State (23-21, 13-14 SLC) three times this season, sweeping a three-game series at Farris Field on March 23^rd and 24^th, sweeping the Friday doubleheader 7-6 and 3-2 in nine innings, before closing out the series with a 10-4 win on Saturday.

The Central Arkansas offense is led by its middle infielders, in All-Southland Conference Third Team member Libby Morris and All-SLC Honorable Mention Kate Myers. This season, Morris hit .340 with 12 doubles and team-high six home runs while driving in 36 runs, while Myers hit .336 with a team-high 15 doubles and five home runs, driving in 40 runs and drawing 25 walks. In the circle the Bears have spread the load fairly evenly, with four pitchers throwing at least 65.0 innings. Rachel Haberman has gone 10-3 with a 3.19 ERA in 72.1 innings, while Kailla Searcy has a 6-6 record and a 3.47 ERA in 80.2 innings and Ellie Reaves has gone 2-5 with a 3.54 ERA in 65.1 innings. Rio Sanchez has tallied a record of 8-7 with a team-low 2.49 ERA in a team-high 98.1 innings.

Tuesday morning's game is a single-elimination affair, with the winner advancing to the double-elimination portion of the tournament. The winner will return to action this afternoon at 4:00 PM against fourth-seeded Southeastern Louisiana. The winner of that game will open play tomorrow at 11:00 AM against top-seeded Nicholls, while the winner will play at 6:30 PM on Wednesday.