ADA – The East Central University softball team will continue their busy week with a four-game Great American Conference series at Arkansas-Monticello, Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29.  Double-headers are scheduled for each day, set to start at 1 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday.

The Cotton Blossoms are 16-7 overall and 8-4 in the GAC, tied for third (.667) with ECU and Southeastern Oklahoma State.  The games in Monticello, Ark., will be the first home game for UAM in the 2015 season.

Kali Piha is the Cotton Blossoms' leader at the plate with a .413 average on 15 runs scored, 31 hits and 17 RBIs.  Katie Slaughter is the key ace in the circle, with an 8-2 record and a 2.79 ERA in 70.1 innings of work.  She has allowed 78 hits and 29 runs, while earning 53 strikeouts.

Last year, the teams split the series that took place at Tiger Field.  Junior Autumn Suydam is the top returner for the Tigers (13-10, 10-5 GAC), with a .385 average.  Suydam tallied four runs, five hits and earned one RBI.  Sophomore Sydney Dow went 2-0 in the circle for ECU, throwing two complete games.  She allowed eight hits and five runs and struck out 20 batters.

Piha is the top returner for UAM, with a .429 average (three runs, six hits and four RBIs).  Slaughter went 1-1 in two complete game, allowing 18 hits and 12 runs and striking out 11 batters.

The first meeting between the Cotton Blossoms and the Tigers was in 2009, with the all-time series currently knotted at 5-5, with a 4-4 record when playing as GAC teams.  This weekend's games will be just the third through seventh in the series played in Monticello, with the series currently tied at 1-1 when playing on the road.