Valdosta State’s Courtney Albritton hit three home runs last weekend to lead the top-ranked Blazers to four victories.

UPDATED 6:10 a.m Following a record-breaking regular season, it was no surprise that the top-ranked Valdosta State softball team swept the Gulf South Conference season awards on Wednesday.

Senior pitcher Alanna Hadley was named the conference’s Pitcher of the Year, freshman center fielder Courtney Albritton was named the conference’s Freshman and Player of the Year and head coach Thomas Macera garnered the conference’s Coach of the Year award.

Altogether, nine Blazers were named to All-GSC teams. In addition to Hadley and Albritton, April Hutchens, Marti Littlefield, Samantha Posey, Morgan Johnson and Natalia Morozova were named to the First Team, while Ashley Steinhilber and Brianna Hancock were named to the Second Team.

“I just shows how hard these girls worked the last four years,” Macera said. “For the entire infield to make the Gulf South-team is unbelievable. Again, there work just paid off at the end.”

The awards and accolades came after the best regular season in Valdosta State history, which featured the Blazers winning a regular season school-record 43 games, a conference record 36 straight games and saw the team honored as the top team in the nation for five consecutive weeks.

Hadley was clearly the most dominating pitcher in the conference all season. She was named the conference’s Pitcher of the Week five times (with four of those honors coming in consecutive weeks), while also being named National Pitcher of the Week back in March. Hadley leads the Blazers, and the conference, with a 22-2 record, a 0.66 earned run average and 121 strikeouts.

“It means so much to me. I am so grateful and blessed to have gotten a second chance to come back and play,” Hadley said. “It means a lot for Coach to stick with me and work me hard in the bullpen, day-in and day-out, telling me, ‘Eventually your hard work will pay off.’”

“She has done well,” Macera said. “The other advantage she had coming in here was that she has this superior defense playing behind her. We have made 37 errors the entire season, while is a big testament to our defense and for her to pitch as part of that defense, and with her and the combination of that defense, it has really helped us get to where we are at.”

While many expected Albritton to be named the conference’s Freshman of the Year, there were some who doubted whether she would garner Player of the Year honors due to the fact that she’s a freshman. Regardless of her freshman status, Albritton’s season-long statistics could not be overlooked.

“I wasn’t worried,” said Macera of Albritton’s age. “I am just so impressed that she got (Player of the Year), because our conference is the best in the country. There are some players that have put up some huge numbers. There is a player from Huntsville that has some outstanding numbers, but I feel like (Albritton) is a better defensive player than this other kid.”

After all, she leads the conference in runs scored with 57, and she ranks second in home runs (13), batting average (.445), slugging percentage (.817) and hits (73). She is also third in runs batted in with 48 — despite serving as Valdosta State’s leadoff hitter — and doubles with 16.

“It is pretty awesome,” said Albritton of the awards. “I didn’t believe it at first. I guess all the hard work paid off, and it was nice to get it.”

The awards by Hadley and Albritton continue what has become a dominating past few seasons by the VSU program. Hadley’s honor marks the third consecutive season that a pitcher from Valdosta State has won the Pitcher of the Year award, after Holly Satterfield won the award in 2010 and 2011. Albritton became the third Blazer in four seasons to win the Freshman of the Year award, joining Johnson (2010) and Littlefield, who won the award in 2009.

“Courtney is an all-around great person,” said Hadley of her teammate. “On the field, off the field, she has the attitude along with the talent, and I am so proud of her. If anyone deserves that, she deserves it, because of all the hard work she has put in.”

For Macera, a coach that admitted Sunday, following his team’s first loss since Feb. 18, that he hates losing more than he loves winning, the honor is a first in his impressive coaching career. Macera has guided the Blazers to three consecutive GSC tournament championships, and the No. 1 seed heading into this weekend’s GSC tournament, a 2010 South Region championship and an appearance in the national championship game, and over 300 victories with the Blazers.

Overall, Macera eclipsed the 500 career win mark during this season, which includes wins at Thomas University and Lynn University. He guided Thomas to a national championship in 2004, and won it with Lynn the following season.

“I can’t do it without the Marti Littlefield’s of the world,” Macera said, “And the Courtney Albritton’s, Ashley Steinhilber’s, the April Hutchen’s, the Sam Posey’s, the Morgan Johnson’s, I mean, those kids have put me on the map. I couldn’t do it without them and it is pretty awesome that these kids play that hard for me.”

VSU remained Division II’s No. 1 ranked team on Wednesday, along with remaining the top-ranked team in the South Region. The honor marked the fifth straight week the Blazers were tabbed the best team in the country, even after suffering a loss to Delta State last Saturday, which ended their 36-game winning streak.

“I think we can take it as a good thing, and to just remind us that we do have to play our best every time,” said Albritton when asked about the loss.

The Blazers will fly to the conference tournament in Southaven, Miss. today, and will take on West Georgia in the first game Friday at noon, before likely facing either West Alabama or Delta State at 2:30 p.m. The Jock 1150 AM and 96.1 FM will carry radio broadcasts of the Blazers’ conference tournament games this weekend.