MARSHALL, Texas – Claiming their eighth regular season American Southwest Conference title, the #3 East Texas Baptist University softball team will host the upcoming championship tournament this weekend. ETBU is making their 20th tournament appearance which leads all teams. They are 47-25 all-time and last won the ASC Championship in 2016.
 
In their last series of the season, ETBU swept McMurry University to finish the regular season at 36-4 and 26-1 in the ASC. Beatriz Lara would strike out 13 batters and allow two hits in the 6-0 and 4-1 wins on the first day. In game three, Preslye Cox went the entire 10 innings to earn the 3-2 win that included a game-tying homer from MacKenzie Anderson and a game-winning RBI from Kaitlin Hunter.
 
At the end of the regular season. Corley Carpenter finished as the team's leader in batting average with .417. Daniella Solis is the hits leader with 50 while Anderson remains the only double-digit home run hitter with 12. Lara is not only ETBU's RBI leader with 38, but she also is 19-1 with an ERA of 1.34, which includes 155 strikeouts.
 
For head coach Janae Shirley, being the host team in the tournament provides ETBU with the opportunity of playing at familiar territory. "I think the comfort level is just something these girls have," said Coach Shirley. "They've played on this field and practiced on this field every single day. That's definitely a positive and it will provide something other teams won't have here... along with the ETBU community. They're excited for these kids. I don't expect it to be different this weekend. So there's the positive things with that and we're excited for it."
 
As the first place team, ETBU will have a first round bye and will start their tournament on Friday. The same is said for #2 Mary Hardin-Baylor, who will have their first game at 10:00 AM on Friday.  Thursday is day one of the tournament and it will be a single elimination as #6 Howard Payne University takes on #7 University of Texas Dallas at 12:00 PM while #5 Sul Ross State University goes up against #8 Louisiana College at 3:00 PM. #3 LeTourneau University will have the winner of HPU/UTD at 6:00 PM and #4 Hardin-Simmons has the SRSU/LC winner afterwards at 9:00 PM. The winners of the two final games on day one will advance to take on ETBU and UMHB in a double-elimination format.
 
Like ETBU, UMHB will be making their 20^th appearance into the conference tournament. This past season, they finished second with a 26-14 record overall and 21-6 in the conference. Entering with a nine-game winning streak, they have never won a conference tournament up to this point and are 20-38 all-time in tournament play. ETBU won their two meetings against the Crusaders during the regular season.
 
After missing the tournament for the past two seasons, LETU makes their fourth appearance. This season saw them take third with a 23-15 record overall and an 18-12 conference record. All-time, they are 3-6 in the history of the conference tournament. ETBU swept LETU during the regular season series.
 
HSU enters their tenth conference tournament as the fourth seed with a 19-21 record overall and a 14-13 conference record. They last won the conference tournament back in 2007. The Cowgirls gave ETBU their only conference loss during the season on April 14^th. But ETBU won the series 2-1.
 
SRSU makes their third conference tournament - their second straight appearance. The Lobos, who are looking for their first ever conference tournament win, finished as the fifth seed with a 20-19 record overall and 13-13 in the conference. ETBU swept SRSU during the regular season on Feb. 15-16.
 
HPU returns to the conference tournament for the ninth time after a six-year absence. As the sixth seed, HPU finished 17-21 overall and 13-14 in the conference. The Yellow Jackets are still without a conference championship as they are 2-16 all-time in their program history.
 
UTD will be making their ninth tournament appearance as the seventh seed. Two years removed from their lone conference championship win in 2017, the Comets finished 16-20 overall and 12-14 in the conference. UTD has a .500 record of 13-13 in conference tournament play. ETBU took all three games from the Comets on the weekend of March 22^nd-23^rd.
 
LC rounds out the eight teams with their sixteenth tournament appearance. Holders of three conference tournament titles, including their last one in 2010, LC's 11-16 conference record bolstered them to a 21-19 overall record. They are second all-time in conference tournament wins with a 37-23 record. This season saw ETBU sweep LC on March 1^st-2^nd.
 
ETBU's first game will be on Friday at 1:00 PM.