VALDOSTA, GA. – The No. 10 Valdosta State softball team is set to round out the 2022 regular season at Young Harris on Saturday for a non-conference twin bill with the first game set to begin at 11 a.m. 

On Wednesday, the Blazers defeated Columbus State twice in a doubleheader to move 31-9 on the year.  The Blazers posted a 3-0 shutout in the opener, followed by an 8-2 victory in the nightcap. 

For the twin bill against CSU, the Blazers scored 11 runs on 13 hits with one double and seven RBI, while junior pitcher Samantha Richards (22-6) recorded 12 strikeouts through 10 innings of work.   

Young Harris enters the game with a 22-18 record while Morgan Curley leads the Mountain Lions' offense with a .368 batting average recording 39 hits through 106 at-bats. Ashley Autuori has a team-high seven home runs while Curley has a team-high 38 RBI.  

Defensively, the Young Harris pitching staff has combined for 204 strikeouts, 300 hits, 84 walks, and 145 earned runs through 1,056 at-bats. For a 4.04 earned run average. Kylie Ferguson has spent the most time on the circle combining for 44 strikeouts, 19 walks, 40 earned runs and 51 runs through 86 innings for a 3.26 ERA.   

The Mountain Lions are coming off a series with Lander, taking one game of a three-game series. Young Harris took game one 5-3 in eight innings and fell the next two games 6-5 and 7-1 respectively.   

VSU leads the all-time series with YHC, 6-0 as the teams haven't played since Mar. 31, 2015, in Valdosta.  The Blazers are 4-0 against the Mountain Lions in Valdosta and 2-0 in wins in Pensacola, Fla.  This is the first time the teams have met at YHC.

This week, the second NCAA South Region Poll was announced, having the Blazers staying steady third in the rankings behind Auburn Montgomery and Tampa.  Nova Southeastern sits fourth in the poll, followed by Embry-Riddle, Rollins, Alabama Huntsville, Saint Leo, Lee and West Florida rounding out the top 10.    

  

The South Region will have eight teams qualify for the regional.  Each of the three conferences in the region, the Gulf South, Sunshine State and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, will have each of the conference tournament champions earn an automatic bid to the regional.  


This year, the format returns to two regional sites with four teams at each site, May 12-14.  Normally the top two earn hosting duties.  The winners of the two sites then will meet for a best-of-three series at the highest remaining seed May 19-20.  The winner of the "Super Regional" will advance to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship, scheduled for May 26-30 at The Regency Athletic Complex in Denver, Colo.   

This season, the Blazers are third nationally in home runs with 66 to lead the GSC, while the team is ninth nationally in slugging percentage at a .558 average and 27th nationally in on-base percentage at a .404 clip.  In the circle, VSU leads the GSC with a 2.30 ERA for 36th nationally, while the team is 23rd nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio at a 3.46 clip.  VSU is 30th nationally in WHIP to lead the league at a 1.14 clip.  

    

Individually, graduate Ally Clegg is tied 24th nationally and second in the GSC in home runs with 13, while she is seventh in the league in RBI (40) and sixth in the league in slugging percentage at a .687 clip.  She leads the team with 43 hits this season.  Sophomore Katie Proctor leads the team with a .358 average this season going 34 of 95.  Sophomore Aniston Gano is second on the team in hits with 39 while senior Nikki Pennington is second in home runs with 11.   
   

In the circle, Richards leads the GSC in strikeouts with 247 for seventh nationally.  Richards has a league-leading, 36th lowest nationally, 1.49 ERA through 178 innings. She has held her opponents to 127 hits, 63 runs, 38 being earned, 49 walks and 14 home runs. She is currently second nationally with 22 complete games, 7th in strikeouts and is tied fourth in victories with 22. League-wise, Richards tops the table in wins, complete games, innings pitched, strikeouts and strikeouts looking.   

   

Following the doubleheader with Young Harris, the Blazers will travel to the Gulf South Conference Championship, beginning May 5 in Oxford, Ala.  

For all updates on Blazer softball visit vstateblazers.com or follow Valdosta State Athletics on social media.