ACU is heading to Phoenix this weekend to face Grand Canyon University in its final softball series of the regular season and hopes to clinch a spot in the Western Athletic Conference tournament with a series win.

After losing its last three games to California Baptist, head softball coach Abigail Farler is looking to get back on track in the season finale series against GCU (42-10,20-3). Farler said the game plan for the team this weekend will be to “know their pitchers well, know their hitters, and prepare the team to play as consistently as possible.”

ACU (16-29,8-15) is the No. 8 seed in the WAC standings, meaning that it owns the final spot in the WAC softball tournament, which will take place Wednesday through May 11.

However, ACU has not clinched its spot in the tournament yet because Southern Utah, Stephen F. Austin and Tarleton State are each within one game of ACU in the standings.

This weekend will be big for all five teams in the race for the final spot in the conference tournament. All five will play a series that will determine the seeding in the conference tournament. ACU plans to monitor the status of the WAC standings to determine its chances of reaching the WAC tournament.

“We can help ourselves out by winning at GCU, but how other teams play will dramatically affect our ability to get into the conference tournament,” Farler said.

The weekend series will start with a Friday doubleheader, with games scheduled for 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The final game of the series is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. on Saturday.