Valdosta State head softball coach Thomas Macera claps from the third base line during Game 2 of a doubleheader against Alabama-Huntsville Feb. 19, 2022 at Steel’s Diamond at Blazer Park.

VALDOSTA – The Valdosta State softball team learned Thursday that it was selected second in the 2023 Gulf South Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, announced Wednesday by the league office.

Auburn Montgomery was tabbed the league favorite with 137 points and nine first-place votes, while VSU was second in the poll with two first-place nods and 131 points. Alabama Huntsville took the third spot with 125 points and the remaining two first-place votes.

West Florida was picked fourth with 113 points, while Lee was fifth (92), followed by West Alabama (90), Montevallo (79), Mississippi College (66), Union (54), and West Georgia (42). Delta State checked in at 11th with 39 points, followed by Christian Brothers (32) and Shorter with 14 points rounded out the poll.

The Blazers finished the 2022 season with a 38-14 record overall and a 21-5 mark in GSC play as they finished second in the league standings. VSU reached the NCAA South Super Regional, falling in a hard-fought, best of three series at Auburn Montgomery. VSU won the opener of the series, 5-1, but AUM came back with a pair of victories, 3-2 and 2-1 to advance to the NCAA Division II National Championship round in Denver, Colo., last May. Head coach Thomas Macera returns for his 18th season at VSU with a 737-216-2 (.773) record, while he is 943-290-2 (.764) overall in stints at Thomas University, Lynn and Valdosta State.

Macera welcomes back a number of players from 2022, including junior infielder Aniston Gano, senior pitcher Samantha Richards, junior pitcher Mia DeAngelis, senior infielder Taylor Lewis, junior infielder Katie Proctor and junior middle infielder Taylor Macera among others.

The team also learned Thursday that both Gano and Richards received Preseason All-GSC honors for the 2023 season. Last season, Gano hit for .301, tallying 32 runs, 44 hits, and 37 RBI. She played and started in 52 games where she recorded six doubles, one triple and 10 home runs. Richards earned National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) First Team All-America honors and D2CCA Second Team All-America accolades in 2022. She earned GSC Pitcher of the Year honors for the second-straight season and broke the school-record for single-season strikeouts (310) marking the second-most in GSC history for a season. Richards’ 610 career strikeouts are good for seventh all-time in GSC history and most in program history. Richards finished the season second nationally in complete games (31), while she was sixth nationally in appearances and fourth in victories (28). Her 310 strikeouts were good for fifth nationally, while she was 28th nationally in strikeouts per seven innings (8.6) and 45th in ERA at a 1.67 clip.

Proctor hit .342 for the season in 47 games with 42 starts, while she recorded 41 hits, seven doubles, seven home runs and 36 RBI. Macera hit for .303 for the season playing and starting in 52 games where she recorded 46 hits, nine doubles, 4 home runs and 35 RBI. Lewis had a slugging percentage of .439 with 35 hits, five doubles and seven home runs while driving in 24 and scoring 16 runs.

Along with Richards, both DeAngelis and sophomore Madison Lumpp will return to the mound for the Blazers. DeAngelis appeared in 18 games, starting in 10 and hoisted a record of 6-2. She recorded a 2.40 ERA, pitching in 58.1 innings while tallying three complete games, one shutout and 35 strikeouts. Lumpp made her first appearance late in the season last year as she appeared in five games, starting in three. She had a record of 2-1 with 10 innings pitched where she recorded 5 strikeouts. Lumpp combined in a 2-0 shutout of Tampa to win VSU’s portion of the NCAA South Regional and advance the Blazers to the Super Regional in a winner-take-all game.

Macera added the services of a number of key newcomers, including a couple of transfers in junior Mackenzie Kilpatrick of Georgia Military College and junior Kinzie Nelson who attended Chipola College. While playing high school ball, Kilpatrick was named 2017 all region, 2018 all region, 2019 all region, 2019 Georgia all state and 2022 GCAA all region. Meanwhile Nelson was named all-conference NJCAA, all state NJCAA as well as MVP ALL-State NJCAA as a catcher. Another new face Blazer Nation should watch is freshman Jasmin Stewart who attended Ola Highschool where she was named the Ola High Female Athlete of the Year and was named co-region Player of the Year during her senior year as an outfielder.

The Blazers open the 2023 season with a two-game series at West Palm Beach, Fla. on Feb. 3-4 versus Palm Beach Atlantic. VSU’s first home series comes on February 18 at 2 p.m. when it will face Mississippi College. The Blazers have 23 home games this season and fans can purchase tickets by visiting www.vstateblazers.com.