BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Valdosta State softball senior Aniston Gano was named Gulf South Conference Co-Player of the Year and earned first team all-conference honors, the league office announced Wednesday.
 
Gano, a native of Lakeland, Ga., is the ninth different Blazer to earn GSC Player of the Year honors joining Lindsay Ellingsworth (2002, East Division), Ryann Ellingsworth (2003, East Division), Alex Acosta (2007 & 2008, East Division), Alyssa Shirley (2010, East Division), Courtney Albritton (2012-2014), Jessica Mohl (2018), Nicole Pennington (2021) and Abby Sulte (2024).  Sulte also was a Co-Player of the Year.
 
Along with Gano, West Florida's Gianna Guerriero also earned Co-Player of the Year, while Trevecca Nazarene's Ashlan Sensing was Pitcher of the Year.  Auburn Montgomery's Reese Cauley and Mississippi College's Blakely Gill earned Co-Freshman of the Year honors, while Guerriero also picked up the Golden Glove Award and AUM head coach Scottie Wilkes was named Coach of the Year.
 
This season, Gano has helped lead VSU to the Gulf South Conference postseason tournament for the 35^thtime in program history as the Blazers will open the postseason tournament on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. ET in Oxford, Ala., at Choccolocco Park versus Alabama Huntsville.  She caps her storied career as she has started all 49 games for the red and black at first base and is hitting a team-best .401 on the year.  
 
She has a team-high 57 hits with 27 runs scored for third on the team.  She has three doubles, a team and 17 home runs, while driving in 44 and registering 111 total bases.  Gano is slugging .782 for the season to lead the team and is reaching base at a .527 clip with 35 walks and been hit by four pitches.  During the season, she reached base safely in 27 games for a team-high, while she has recorded 15 multi-hit games with a season-best three hit games four times and has a team-high 14 multi-RBI games and drove in a season-best four RBI against Florida Southern (2/7).  
 
Gano was named GSC Player of the Week twice and has 245 putouts with nine assists in 256 chances with two errors for a .992 fielding percentage.  She also helped turn four double plays.  
 
Nationally speaking, Gano is seventh nationally in home runs (17), while she is 19^th nationally in on-base percentage (.527) to lead the league.  She is second in the league in RBIs (44) and is second in the GSC in slugging percentage at a .782 clip for 31^st nationally.  Gano is second in the league in on base plus slugging at a 1.309 clip.  Her 35 walks puts her 28^th nationally and tops in the GSC in walks per game at a 0.71 average, while her 111 total bases leads the league and is 52^nd nationally.  
 
For her career, she is second all-time in both GSC history and team history in home runs with 63, while she has played in 203 games with a .340 batting average.  Gano has scored 120 runs with 200 hits, 21 doubles, three triples and driven in 194.  She has a .707 slugging percentage and is reaching base at a .453 clip with 109 walks. 
 
Gano earned National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-America At-Large honors in 2024 coming off a season-ending injury in 2023.  She earned second team all-league honors last season and was a member of the GSC All-Tournament team.  She earned second team all-region by both the NFCA and D2CCA.