VALDOSTA, Ga. – Valdosta State softball sophomore Chloe Eichelberger was named Gulf South Conference Player of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday.  This is her first weekly honor of the season and the first for the Blazer softball team in 2026. 

Eichelberger, a native of Tampa, had an outstanding week as she went 6 for 8 from the dish in a designated player/pinch-hitter role for the Blazers in a three-game sweep of Trevecca Nazarene to begin GSC play.  She hit .750 for the series, while reaching base at a .778 clip with one walk and slugged 2.000.  Eichelberger scored three runs with one double, three home runs and drove in seven.

In the opener against TNU, Eichelberger hit a pinch-hit two RBI single giving VSU a 5-4 lead in the seventh as the Blazers went on for a 7-4 win.  In the second game on Friday, she hit two home runs and went 2 for 3 from the dish with two runs scored, three RBI and a walk.  For the finale on Saturday, she went 3 for 4 with a run scored, a double, a home run and two RBI.  Her round-tripper in the third gave VSU a 5-0 lead.

This season, Eichelberger is hitting .688 on 11 of 16 from the plate with three runs scored, one double, three home runs and eight RBI.  She has walked twice and is reaching base at a .750 clip, while registering a hit in each of the last seven games she has played. 

VSU opens the 2026 home slate this Saturday and Sunday in a pivotal Gulf South Conference series against UAH at Steel's Diamond at Blazer Park.  The series is set for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28, followed by a single game Sunday, Mar. 1 beginning at 1 p.m.  Both VSU and UAH enter the series at 3-0 in GSC in play.  VSU is 7-6 overall and UAH is 17-3 overall and has won ten-straight.