VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 10 Valdosta State softball team heads to the 2022 Gulf South Conference Softball Championship in Oxford, Ala., at Choccolocco Park, May 4-7. The Blazers are the No. 2-seed in the Championship and will face No. 7-seed West Alabama at 1:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
The games will be broadcast on 92.1 WDDQ FM in Valdosta with Matt Malone having the call of the games and online at talk921.com. Click on the links for audio of the game at vstateblazers.com on the softball schedule page.
VSU (33-9, 21-5) rounded out the 2022 regular season second in the GSC standings, behind Auburn Montgomery, who is the No. 1 seed in the tournament. AUM finished its season 38-8, 25-5 in the GSC and went 2-1 in the series against VSU earlier in the year taking game one 9-5, falling in game two 14-6 and taking the third game 4-3.
For the season, the Tigers enter the GSC Championship with a 26-23 mark overall and a 15-15 record in GSC play. UWA was swept by Alabama Huntsville in its final series of the regular season. The Tigers are one of the two teams VSU has not played this year along with Delta State.
The GSC Softball Championship will be streamed live through FloSports. Fans can purchase a monthly or yearly membership to FloSports by clicking on the link to the right and following the instructions on the How to Sign Up for FloSports page. Fans can purchase a month-to-month plan for $19.99 or a discounted annual subscription rate of $150 ($12.50/month). FloSports partnered with the GSC as the official streaming partner for GSC Football and conference championships. Follow the links to the right for the GSC Softball Championship Central Page and the Choccolocco Park website.
The GSC online mobile ticketing for the conference championship is now active. Click on the link to the right to purchase tickets for the championship online and redeem admission via mobile phone at the admission gate.
West Florida is the No. 3-seed with a 22-8 record in GSC play and a 31-13 mark overall. Alabama Huntsville is the No. 4-seed with a 21-9 record in league play and a 35-14 mark overall, while Lee is the No. 5-seed, followed by Montevallo, West Alabama and Union.
With a victory on Wednesday, the Blazers will move to the second round and face off against the winner of No. 3 West Florida or No. 6 Montevallo at 4:30 p.m. ET on Thursday. If the Blazers lose, they will play the loser of UWF vs. UM at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday.
The Blazers remained at No. 10 in this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top 25, while conference rival AUM moved up one spt too No. 4 in the poll and West Florida dropped two spots to No. 20.
VSU remained No. 3 in the latest NCAA South Region rankings last week. Auburn Montgomery remained No. 1 in the poll, followed by Tampa while VSU, Nova Southeastern and Embry-Riddle rounded out the top five. Rollins is sixth, followed by Alabama Huntsville at seven. Saint Leo, Lee and West Florida round out the top ten respectfully. There will be one more public ranking announced prior to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship field being announced on May 9 at 10 a.m. ET on NCAA.com.
The Blazers are making their 32nd appearance in the GSC Championship and 75-45 all-time (.625). The 75 victories are most in GSC history for the championship. VSU has won a league-record nine championship titles with the most recent being in 2018. VSU has reached the semifinals 21 times and the finals 13 times. VSU and former GSC member North Alabama shared the league tournament title in 2018 as inclement weather forced the tournament canceled. VSU's last outright GSC Tournament title came in 2014 in an 11-7 victory over Alabama Huntsville, while it finished runner-up in 2016 to North Alabama.
Last year, VSU faced off against Lee in the first round and took the game 3-1. Following Lee, the Blazers fell 2-1 to Mississippi College. VSU bounced back and defeated Montevallo 3-1 and then ultimately fell to AUM 5-2.
West Alabama is 40-27 all-time in the GSC Championship in 19 appearances. The Tigers have reached the semifinals nine times, final seven times and has clinched six GSC titles with the most recent being in 1997.
West Florida is making its 24th appearance in the GSC postseason tournament with a 48-31 record overall, reaching the semifinals 13 times, finals seven times and has won four titles in 1998, 2004-05, and 2019.
Montevallo is making its third appearance in the GSC Championships and is 1-4 all-time (.200). The Falcons made their first appearance in the tournament in 2018, Falling to Mississippi College 9-1 then Lee 5-3. In 2021, MU fell to AUM in the first round 4-1 then defeated West Florida 3-2 before finally falling to the Blazers 3-1.
VSU is 28-2 against UWA and last faced each other in the 2021 season. The Blazers took game one of the series 13-2 in five innings, game two 10-1 in six innings and swept the series by taking game three 10-0 in five innings.
