JACKSON, Tenn. - The Union University softball team will be making its fifth appearance and third straight in the Gulf South Conference Championships. Union, seeded sixth in the tournament, will open play Wednesday, May 1 at 10 a.m. at Choccolocca Park in Oxford, Alabama versus the 3-seed University of West Florida. All eight teams advancing to the championships will play one game Wednesday and one game Thursday in the double-elimination tournament that goes through Saturday, May 4.
Union finished the regular season with a 28-21 overall record and a 16-14 league record. The 28 wins are currently the third most by a Union softball team since officially becoming members in 2015 (31 wins in 2015, 30 wins in 2019). Sturner improved her win total from last season's first year as head coach by four to this point.
Union is paced offensively this year by shortstop
Macey Neal with a .396 batting average, 45 runs, 65 hits, 12 doubles, 11 home runs, and 56 RBI. All of those are team highs. She also has three triples and eight stolen bases. Zoel Neal, the sister of Macey, is right on her heels with 11 doubles, 10 home runs, and 43 RBI.
Morgan Jennings is hitting .305 with 38 runs51 hits, three doubles, a home run, and 16 RBI. Jennings leads the team with four triples and 21 stolen bases.
Courtney Marler is second on the team with a .362 average and has 11 doubles, four home runs, and 31 RBI. She has also thrown out seven runners trying to steal.
In the circle, newcomer
Lainey Baker leads Union with a 2.41 ERA and 152 strikeouts in 107 innings of work. She is 8-8 on the year with 20 appearances, 15 starts, and 11 complete games.
Riley Vaughn leads the team with nine wins (9-5) and 21 appearances (15 starts). She has a 4.17 ERA with 104 strikeouts in 85.2 innings of work.
Emily Claire Felder has a 3.07 ERA with a 6-6 record in 17 appearances and 70.2 innings of work.
Addison Abell is 4-1 with a 3.48 ERA in 16 appearances with 52.1 innings of work.
In this year's regular season, Union lost all three games to West Florida this season, including a 2-1, nine-inning loss in the most recent meeting. All three games were played in Pensacola.
This year's 6-seed is the second-highest seed for Union in GSC Tournament play. A 5-seed in its first appearance in 2025 is the highest seed. In Union's five appearances, Union has one 5-seed, one 6-seed, two 7-seeds, and one 8-seed. Union is 1-8 in the previous four GSC Championships with its lone win coming in 2019 as a 7-seeded Union knocked off 2-seed Alabama Huntsville. Union is 1-3 in the first round of GSC play.
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