STEPHENVILLE - After finishing the regular season with 31 wins - seven coming against ranked opponents - and claiming third place in the Lone Star Conference standings, the Tarleton TexAnns are turning their attention to the postseason which begins Friday.

Tarleton has qualified for the LSC Championship Tournament for the 11th time since the softball program began in 1996 and will open with Midwestern State at 11:30 a.m. from Pioneer Field in Denton.

Earlier this month, Tarleton suffered a sweep at the hands of MSU in Wichita Falls by a combined four runs.

Since that time, Midwestern won seven of its last 11 games to earn the No. 6 seed in the tournament while Tarleton battled with the top two teams in the LSC before taking the regular season's final series against Incarnate Word last weekend.

The Mustangs are led offensively by Courtney Bingham with a .431 batting average and 49 runs scored. Kim Jerrick leads MSU with nine home runs.

As a team, MSU is third in the LSC with a .328 batting average while also being second in the conference with 78 stolen bases.

The TexAnns will counter with a powerful trio in the heart of their order that consists of Katie Welborn, Samantha Swanda and Tarleton's all-time home run leader Arianna Rodriguez.

Welborn leads the team with a .381 batting average while Swanda and Rodriguez each have a team-high 17 home runs. The trio has combined for 136 RBIs this season.

Swanda (.373) and Rodriguez (.353) are Tarleton's other two .300-plus hitters on the season.

From the pitching circle, Swanda has been dominant this season - leading the conference in innings pitched (200), complete games (21), shutouts (4) and strikeouts (182).

Swanda and Randi Fentress also boast the two lowest opponent batting averages among the conference's top-10 ERA pitchers - .236 and .230, respectively.

Midwestern State is eighth in the conference in ERA with a 4.64 team earned run average. Lindsi Glenn leads MSU with a 3.58 ERA and 19 wins.

First pitch is set for 11:30 a.m. from Pioneer Field and tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets will go on sale 90 minutes before game time.