FLORENCE, SC – Junior shortstop Madalyn White went 4-for-4 and scored three runs at the top of the Francis Marion University line-up as the top-seeded and second-ranked Patriots blanked eighth-seeded Georgia Southwestern State University 6-0 in the opening game of the NCAA Division II Southeast sub-Regional Softball Tournament in Florence.
 
Francis Marion improves to 50-4, becoming the first-ever Patriot athletic team to register 50 victories in a season, and advances to face fourth-seeded Wingate University in a semifinal contest on Friday at 1 p.m.  Wingate defeated fifth-seeded Flagler College 5-1 in Thursday's other opening-round game.
 
Flagler and Georgia Southwestern will meet in an elimination game on Friday at 4 p.m., with the loser of the 1 p.m. contest facing the 4 p.m. winner in a second elimination game at 7 p.m.  Admission for Friday at the FMU Softball Stadium is $10.
 
FMU junior southpaw Alyssa Poston (27-2) earned the win against GSW.  She tossed 5.2 innings and allowed five hits and fanned three.  Junior right-hander Jenna Walling came into a bases-loaded situation in the sixth and recorded the final four outs to earn her fourth save of 2025 and set a new single-season record in that category.
 
Poston, the Conference Carolinas Pitcher of the Year, also re-ties Walling for third place on the Patriots' career wins list with 55.
 
Francis Marion junior left fielder Anderson Thrower banged out a pair of run-scoring singles in three at bats and senior outfielder Emily Konz went 2-for-4 and extended her hitting streak to 18 games.
 
White improved upon her single-season school record for hits, now at 91, and extended her hitting streak to 15 games.
 
The Patriots took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.  White singled to center field, stole second, and went to third on a ground out.  Thrower then lined a single off the pitcher's glove allowing White to cross home.
 
Georgia Southwestern left-hander Pyper McCard (9-8) kept FMU off the scoreboard over the next three frames.  However, in the fifth the Patriots pushed across three runs.
 
Junior second baseman Rylie Webster led off the frame with her seventh home run of the season, a long shot over the center field wall.  White and Konz both followed with singles.  After a flyout, Thrower pushed her second RBI-single through the right-side scoring White.  Konz then scored on a sacrifice fly by freshman designated player Rylee Gray.
 
After Walling snuffed out the Hurricane rally in the top of the sixth, FMU added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the frame as Conference Carolinas Player of the Year Paige Strickland lined a two-run single to right. 
 
Junior center fielder Madison Banks led the Hurricanes with three hits, while left fielder Malone Aldridge went 2-for-4.  
 
The win was also the 650th career victory for Francis Marion head coach Stacey Vallee.  She is in her 21st season at FMU.

 
 
#2 Francis Marion Univ. 6, Georgia Southwestern 0 (May 08, 2025 at Florence, SC)
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Georgia Southwestern 000 000 0 -  0  6  0      (27-26)
Francis Marion Univ. ..100 032 X -  6 12  2      (50-4)
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Pitchers: Georgia Southwestern - Pyper McCard; Regan Lee(5) and Rebecca Hazard.
Francis Marion Univ. - Alyssa Poston; Jenna Walling(6) and Kendal Miller; Marlee McCormick.
Win-Alyssa Poston(27-2)  Save-Jenna Walling(4)  Loss-Pyper McCard(9-8)  T-1:54  A-263
HR FMU_SB - Rylie Webster (7).
Weather: Partly Cloudy,76,Winds NE@11mp