ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — The Reddies softball team returns home for their first games on Dee White Field this weekend as they co-host the McGhee-Hawkins Invitational. 

HSU will face (RV) Mississippi College and No. 21 Tarleton State on Saturday before taking on No. 1 Texas A&M-Kingsville and Christian Brothers on Sunday. The full schedule of games for the tournament can be found HERE.

Henderson State split four games at the Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational held in Conroe, Texas last weekend, grabbing a pair of 6-3 victories over Texas A&M International and UT-Permian Basin. The Reddies were led by a sensational weekend from junior outfielder Kailey Reese, who was named GAC Player of the Week by the league office on Tuesday. Reese did it all for HSU, going 6-for-10 with a double, a triple, five runs, four walks, four stolen bases and three RBIs over the weekend. 

Freshman Kaitlyn O'Quinn had an outstanding debut for HSU and joined Reese as the only Henderson hitters to collect a base hit in all four games of the tournament. O'Quinn finished the weekend 5-13 with a double, a triple, and five runs scored. 

Both victories last weekend were credited to Reddies' reliever Cayleigh Guthrie who spread six hits across 5.2 innings and did not allow a run. The senior also struck out three batters and displayed excellent control by offering just one walk. 

Game 1: (RV) Mississippi College (Preseason No. 4 GSC) | Feb. 8 | 10 a.m.
- The Reddies will take on an impressive Lady Choctaws team in the 2020 home opener. The Mississippi College program has reached new heights in the last three seasons, winning the GSC Tournament in 2017 and setting a school record with 40 wins to grab an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament last season.

 - The Lady Choctaws return all four hitters who finished last season above the .300 threshold, including First Team All-GSC performers Morgan Bradford and Carly Crawford. Bradford hit .319 last season and led the team with a .454 on-base percentage while Crawford led the Lady Choctaws with seven home runs and 39 RBIs while hitting .310. Mississippi College also touts Shayla McKissock who finished second on the team with a .333 average and 23 stolen bases, as well as super sophomore Annemarie Peavy, who led the team with a .342 average while knocking 14 doubles, six home runs, and four triples. 

- Despite losing the GSC's Pitcher of the Year Cori Cooper to graduation, the Reddies may well see First Team All-GSC Pitcher Hannah Creel who went 17-6 with a 2.34 ERA and 122 strikeouts last season. 

Game 2: No. 21 Tarleton State (Preseason No. 3 LSC) | Feb. 8 | 12 p.m.
- This will be the Reddies second meeting against the Texans in as many weekends. In the third game of last weekend's Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational, the Reddies blitzed TSU with three runs in the top of the first, but could not hold on, and fell 12-5. 

- Henderson was unable to quiet the bat of Lone Star Preseason Player of the year Georgia Capell, who went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, and 2 RBIs. A junior, Capell is already the first two-time All-American in Tarleton State program history. The outfielder finished 2019 with a .387 batting average and a school single-season record with 68 RBIs. Capell finished the season among the top 11 in NCAA Division II with 68 RBIs, 18 home runs, and 134 total bases. 

- Along with Capell, TSU returns two First Team All-LSC selections Jordan Withrow and Destiny Crumpley from a 2019 team that went 40-15 and advanced to the NCAA South Regional. Withrow, the Texans' ace pitcher ended 2019 with a 22-5 record with a 1.81 ERA. The senior Crumpley hit .318 last year and tallied nine home runs and 43 RBIs. 

Game 3: No. 1 Texas A&M-Kingsville (Preseason No. 1 LSC) | Feb. 9 | 12 p.m.
- The Javelinas, who are now the No. 1 team in NCAA DII, may have had the most impressive opening weekend of any team in the country, going 6-0 including four wins over nationally ranked teams. Kingsville won the Lone Star regular season in 2019 before sweeping through the LSC Tournament and both the NCAA South Central Regional and Super Regional before falling in the rubber match of the Division II National Championship series to Augustana. 

- Kingsville's lineup is led by 2019 First Team All-LSC honorees Loren Kelly and Anastasia Leibas. Kelly hit .353 and was second on the team with 72 hits and 57 runs scored while setting a school record and finishing third in the nation with 41 stolen bases. Leibas also smashed two school records in RBIs with 59 and total bases with 129 while hitting .387 and slugging .665. 

- TAMUK may have the best pitching duo in the country behind Breanna Smith and Saidi Castillo. In 2019, the two aces combined to go 49-9 and while recording 379 strikeouts in 387.2 innings of work. 

Game 4: Christian Brothers (Preseason No. 13 GSC) | Feb. 9 | 2 p.m.
- First year head coach Jordan Bastian has the task of turning around a Christian Brothers softball program that has toiled to turn heads in the Gulf South Conference in the past decade. However, the Lady Bucs enter the 2020 season behind an extremely strong sophomore class. 

- The first of those sophomores is Ashley Dyer, who hit .358 in her debut season and led the Lady Bucs with a .459 on-base percentage, a .550 slugging percentage, 27 runs scored, 23 stolen bases and seven triples. Mackenzie Puckett also returns for CBU after hitting .333 with nine doubles as a freshman. Lastly, Kendall Westbrooks started 44 games behind the plate last year while providing the Lady Bucs with six of the team's 15 home runs.