CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College softball team will take their longest trip of the season when they travel to Georgia for a three-game Gulf South Conference series with Valdosta State this weekend.

The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. (CT), wrapping up the series on Sunday with a single game at 12:00 p.m. (CT).
 

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MATCHUP INFORMATION
Matchup: Mississippi College (21-12, 12-6 GSC) at Valdosta State (27-8, 14-4 GSC)
Location: Valdosta, Ga.  |  Steel's Diamond
Time: Saturday - 12:00 p.m. (CT)  |  Sunday - 12:00 p.m.
 

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ALL-TIME SERIES
MC and VSU have met 18 previous times with Valdosta holding an 11-7 edge in the series. Since re-joining the GSC for the 2015 season, the Blazers are 4-2, including winning 2-of-3 games in both series. Last season, the Lady Choctaws outscored VSU 17-15 in the series but dropped two games. The teams met in Georgia in 2015 with the Lady Choctaws outscoring the #1 Blazers 7-3, but falling twice by 1-0 scores.
 

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MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE INFORMATION
Head Coach: Brooke O'Hair  |  299-190 (.611), 11th Season at MC

ROSTER  |  SCHEDULE  |  STATISTICS

THE LATEST
- The Lady Choctaws are coming off a three-game GSC sweep of West Georgia in Clinton last weekend. They also split a road doubleheader against NAIA #2 William Carey on Tuesday as freshman Jordan Holfield earned her first career win in her first career start in the circle. Junior Katherine Lee went 3-for-3 with an RBI in the victory, pushing her batting average to .413 on the season.
- Despite the 2-0 loss to William Carey on Tuesday, the Lady Choctaws have been on a roll, as of late, winning 11 straight games prior to the defeat. It's the second consecutive season MC has had at least a 10-game winning streak and third time in the last four seasons. In 2016, the Lady Choctaws won 13 straight games and had a 10-game streak in 2014.
- Junior Katherine Lee (.413) is the team's leading hitter, ranking 7th in the Gulf South Conference in hits (45) and 8th in batting average. She also ranks 2nd in the league in stolen bases (22) behind teammate Haley Thompson (.319), who is 35-of-36 on the basepaths this season, ranking 3rd nationally.
- Senior Tylan Buckley (.344) leads the squad with 26 RBI and is second with five home runs and a .559 slugging percentage. Sophomore Kristen Qualls (.313) has a team-high six home runs and a .563 slugging percentage.
- Freshman Carly Crawford (.333) is the team leader with eight doubles, also tallying four home runs and 24 RBI in her rookie season.
- Sophomore Penny Nichols (11-5, 2.38 ERA) has been the leader in the circle this season, pacing MC with 105.2 innings pitched and 48 strikeouts.
- Freshman Marley Peagler (5-2, 4.83 ERA) ranks 2nd on the team in wins, while sophomore Adrianna Morgan (3-3, 3.31 ERA) has the second-best ERA on the team.
 

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VALDOSTA STATE INFORMATION
Head Coach: Thomas Macera  |  512-130 (.798), 11th Season at VSU

ROSTER  |  SCHEDULE  |  STATISTICS

THE LATEST
- The Blazers are the lone nationally-ranked team in the Gulf South Conference, coming in at #9 in the latest NFCA Division II poll.
- VSU has the top offense in the league hitting .348 as a team, which ranks 10th in the country. Jessica Mohl (.468) is the team's leading hitter pacing the squad with 20 stolen bases. Hayley Cruthers (.440) has a team-high 52 RBI, while Chelsea Canara (.398) leads the way with 12 doubles and nine home runs.
- Avery Lamb (11-2, 4.18 ERA) and Kathryn Carter (11-1, 5.03 ERA) lead the team in wins. Lamb has tossed a team-high 84.0 innings with 41 strikeouts and five shutouts.
 

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GAME NOTES
- The Lady Choctaws have been off and running in the 2017 season, leading the Gulf South Conference and ranking 3rd nationally with 102 stolen bases through 33 games, which already ranks 3rd in school history for most in a single season. Senior Haley Thompson has swiped 35 bases in 36 attempts in 2017, which is the 4th-highest total in school history.
- Senior Megan Everett (Pearland, Texas) became the school's all-time leader in games played (187) and at-bats (571) in the series sweep of West Georgia last weekend. She also ranks in the top 10 in school history in hits (180, 2nd), runs batted in (100, 4th), total bases (207, 5th) and runs scored (92, 8th).
- On Monday, March 13th, the Lady Choctaws secured the 700th victory in program history with a 13-8 win over Union. The first win for MC came on March 22, 1986 with a 6-2 win over Tennessee-Martin. On Friday, February 10th, the Lady Choctaws played at Montevallo, which was the 1,200th game in Mississippi College softball history. The first game on record was on March 14, 1986 when MC played Troy State in Columbus, MS (L, 13-14).
- Brooke O'Hair is in her 11th season as MC's head softball coach, already sitting atop the list of most wins in school history. Of the six 30-win seasons in school history, the former Mississippi State second baseman has achieved the feat five times. Following the school-record 39 wins in 2016 and the nine this season, O'Hair is just one victory away from 300 for her career. She was named the NCCAA National Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Choctaws to a national championship last season.
 

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Mississippi College is a private Christian university located in Clinton, Mississippi with an enrollment of over 5,000 students. MC is recently finished their transition process back to NCAA Division II and the Gulf South Conference and will be competing for conference and national championships in the 2016-17 academic year.
 
The athletic department sponsors 17 intercollegiate athletic programs: Baseball, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Cross Country, Football, Golf, Men's and Women's Soccer, Softball, Men's and Women's Tennis, Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field, Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field and Volleyball.
 
For more information on Mississippi College athletics, please contact David Nichols at 601-925-3234 or nichols@mc.edu.