TYLER, Texas – After finishing the regular-season with the most wins since the 2013 season, the Concordia Texas softball team is set to play in their second straight American Southwest Conference Tournament beginning on Thursday at Suddenlink Field hosted by UT Tyler.

The Tornados clinched the number four seed in the tournament after a series win over UT Dallas in the final weekend of the regular season. The fourth overall seed is the top finish in the ASC for CTX since the conference switched from two divisions to one in 2014.

It is the first time since the 2010-11 seasons the Tornados have made back-to-back appearances in postseason play. CTX will be looking for their first tournament win since 2000 in which they advanced all the way to the championship game before falling to East Texas Baptist.

By virtue of clinching the No. 4 seed in the tournament, Concordia also clinched a first-round bye and will take on the winner of No. 6 Louisiana College and No. 7 Sul Ross State in an elimination game on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to the four-team, double-elimination bracket beginning on Friday at 10:00 a.m. with a matchup against No. 2 ETBU.

CTX head coach Rachel Reekstin is confident about her team's approach heading into the ASC Tournament.

"We have found a way to win this year when we needed to win and have set ourselves up nicely for a strong run in the conference tournament," Reekstin said. "We have shown that we are capable of beating anyone and we are excited to show the whole conference we are a force to be reckoned with."

CTX is led at the plate by the combination of Haley Dennett, Summer Harper and Brittani Whitten. The trio of players are all batting over .330 this season while also combining for 114 total starts.

Dennett, a junior from Edinburg, Texas, is the team's leading hitter with a .391 batting average to go along with eight doubles, 16 runs scored and 15 RBIs on the year. She is second on the team in hits (45) as well on base percentage (.432).

Harper, a sophomore from Cypress, Texas, closed the regular season on a tear with four of her five homers this season coming in the last nine games. She is tied for the team lead in doubles with nine and also has the second-best slugging percentage at .561.

Whitten, a senior out of Roseville, Calif., leads the Tornados in slugging percentage (.628), doubles (8), home runs (6), RBIs (32), walks (20), hits (47), and runs scored (28). Individually, she ranks in the top-10 in the ASC in slugging percentage, on base percentage, hits, walks and homers.

In the circle, CTX uses the one-two punch of Jorden Russell and Simone Langland. Both Russell and Langland rank in the top-10 in the ASC in strikeouts as well as opponents' batting average.

Russell, a junior from Leander, Texas, has a miniscule 1.87 ERA in 138.2 innings this season. She needs just four more strikeouts to be just the second CTX player and the first since Kat Moreno in 2013 to strikeout at least 100 batters in a season. In 27 appearances and 17 starts this season, Russell is allowing opponents to hit just .200 against her which is currently the best mark in school history.

Langland, a freshman from Cypress, Texas, is 9-3 this season with a 3.81 ERA while racking up 59 strikeouts in just 79.0 innings. Langland threw the Tornados' first no-hitter since 2011 in a win over McMurry while also setting a single-game program record with 10 strikeouts against Howard Payne on April 13.

Tournament host UT Tyler will provide live stats and video for every game here. You can also check out the bracket and more information on the tournament central page.