LIVINGSTON, Ala. – Head Coach Thomas Macera reached another milestone on Saturday, as the veteran skipper achieved his 500^th victory as Valdosta State softball's head coach in the first game of a Gulf South Conference doubleheader sweep over West Alabama (9-1, 18-0) on Saturday afternoon in Livingston, Ala.
 
The Blazer bats came alive early in game one and never let up throughout the rest of the day. VSU scored one run or more in 10 of the 12 innings played on Saturday, and Coach Macera's squad racked up multiple runs in seven of those ten frames.
 
The Blazer offense helped improve Caitlyn Calhoun to a 10-3 record on the season after slugging out 12 hits in game one. Five of those base knocks were extra base hits, and three were homers. Calhoun allowed just four hits to UWA.
 
VSU added five additional homers in game two, which resulted in home runs for six different players on the day. Kiley Rusen homered once in each game to improve her season total to a GSC-leading 12 and her RBI total to a league-leading 37. In addition, Rusen now stands at second place in both of those offensive categories on the national leaderboards. The hero of the day, however, was sophomore and Lowndes High graduate Heather Robinson, who went a perfect 5-for-5 with two homers and a double. Robinson drove in five runs in the sweep and finished the day with four runs scored, 12 total bases, three walks, and a 2.400 slugging percentage.
 
Huntyre Elling scored the victory in the lopsided game two win to improve her record to 5-3 on the year and lift VSU to 16-6-1 overall and 6-5 in GSC play. In contrast, West Alabama fell to 6-13 on the year and were denied their first GSC win of the year at 0-11.

Macera currently holds the title of the winningest active coach at the Division II level with a .787 winning percentage and a record of 501-135-1.
 
The Blazers shoot for the weekend sweep tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. EST in Livingston, Ala.