VALDOSTA, Ga. – Coming off a 3-0 weekend sweep over No. 25 Alabama Huntsville, the No. 2 Valdosta State softball team is set to travel to Americus, Ga. to take on Georgia Southwestern on Wednesday. The Blazers will play a doubleheader with the Hurricanes with game one slated for 4 p.m., and game two at 6 p.m.    

  

VSU enters the games with a 9-2 record, 3-0 in the Gulf South Conference while the Hurricanes have a 7-3 record on the year. The Blazers have stayed steady in the NFCA Top 25 Poll this week at No. 2, as the team jumped from No. 7 to No. 2 after going 4-0 at the Gulf Shored Invitational week one.  

  

The Blazers are currently riding a four-game win streak, as their only losses of the year were against Tampa in the Embry-Riddle Invitational. The team has outscored its opponents 66-22 this season, while also amassing nine homeruns, 81 hits, 59 RBI and a .290 batting average. 

Junior Abby Sulte leads the team in RBI with 11, while senior Nikki Pennington has a .423 average, .846 slugging percentage , and has 11 hits, three homers and eight RBI in 26 at bats. Sophomore Katie Proctor, with a .500 batting average in 12 at-bats, has put up six hits, one home run, and three RBI.    

 
Pennington's .846 slugging percentage is the second-highest in the GSC while sophomore Morgan Hill, this week's GSC Player of the Week, has the fifth-highest runs scored in the GSC with 12.   

  

Junior pitcher Samantha Richards (5-1), this week's GSC Pitcher of the Week, has the highest number of strikeouts in the GSC with 50, and has a 1.38 earned-run average, allowing 31 hits, 13 runs allowed and 11 walks. She has also only given up eight earned runs on the year through 40.2 innings pitched and 155 at-bats.   

  

Sophomore Mia DeAngelis (3-1) has seen 23.1 innings and has recorded 15 strikeouts, given up 20 hits, seven runs and seven walks for a 1.20 earned run average.   

  

Hill, who also sees time in the circle, has pitched 8.2 innings with a 1.62 earned run average, putting up three strikeouts, allowing six hits, two runs and four walks through 31 at-bats.   

  

Katelyn Wood leads the scoring efforts for the Hurricanes with 13 RBI on the year and a .500 batting average, while Georgia Southwestern has recorded six home runs, 87 hits, and has outscored its opponents 66-34.   

  

In the circle, Georgia Southwestern's pitching staff has amassed 41 strikeouts and has given up 71 hits, 34 runs, and four home runs and has a combined 2.67 earned run average.   

  

The Hurricanes have three losses on the year, falling to Florida Southern twice and Embry-Riddle early in the year. Since the losses, Georgia Southwestern has picked up seven straight wins.   

  

The last time the Blazers Faced the Hurricanes was on Mar. 20, 2021, where VSU won 4-0 in game one of a weekend doubleheader. Later in the day, the Blazers won 6-5, as Richards collected the win in the top of the seventh inning. The Blazers are currently riding a 25-game win-streak with GSW dating back to the 2011 season.   

  

After the midweek games, the Blazers will continue their road trip, traveling to Cleveland, Tenn., to take on Lee for the second GSC series of the year on Feb 26-27.  

Check back with vstateblazers.com for complete recaps and stats of the games all season long.