VALDOSTA, Ga. – Valdosta State senior softball infielder Aniston Gano earned National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) First Team All-South Region honors, the organization announced Thursday.  
 
Gano, a native of Lakeland, Ga., earned Co-Gulf South Conference Player of the Year honors this season and was named first team all-league.  She joined former Blazers 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) to earn league Player of the Year honors. 
 
This season, Gano helped lead VSU to the GSC postseason tournament for the 35^th time in program history as the team finished 26-25 overall and went 19-13 in GSC play.  Gano finished the season hitting a team-best .393 on 57 of 145 from the dish in 51 starts at first base.  She scored 27 runs with three doubles and a team-best 17 home runs, while driving in 44.  Gano slugged .766 and reached base at a .527 clip with a team-high 38 walks and was hit by pitches four times. 
 
She reached base during the season in 27-straight games and 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 finished with 257 putouts with ten assists in 269 chances with two errors for a .993 fielding percentage.  She also helped turn five double plays.  
 
Nationally speaking, Gano currently sits tenth in home runs (17), while she is 21^st in on base percentage (.527) to lead the league both categories.  She is 32^nd nationally in slugging percentage (.766) for second in the league and is second in the GSC in total bases with 111.  She is 17^th nationally in walks per game at a 0.76 clip to lead the league. 
 
For her career, she finished second all-time in both GSC history and school history in home runs with 63, while she played in 205 games with a .338 career batting average, scored 120 runs with 200 hits, 21 doubles, three triples and drove in 194.  She finished with a career slugging percentage of .704 and reached base at a .453 clip.  
 
Gano earned 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 in 2024.