Softball Prepares for Opening Round of Sun Belt Championship Against Coastal Carolina

HATTIESBURG, Miss.-Southern Miss Softball (23-28, 10-13 Sun Belt) heads to Troy, Ala. as the No. 10 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship, scheduled to face Coastal Carolina (37-17, 13-11 Sun Belt) in the opening round on Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Southern Miss finished the regular season with a 10-13 standing in conference play, with series wins at home against Troy, ULM and App State and a road series victory at South Alabama. The Golden Eagles' four conference series wins, including three straight, were their most since 2016. Southern Miss got off to a hot start, jumping to its best conference start since joining the Sun Belt and its best overall since 2006 with a 7-4 mark in league play.

The Golden Eagles have made the Sun Belt Championship for three straight seasons, marking the most consecutive tournament appearances since 2010-2013.

Game 52: Southern Miss (23-28, 10-13 Sun Belt) vs. Coastal Carolina (37-17, 13-11 Sun Belt)
Sun Belt Championship Game 1
Troy Softball Complex
Troy, Ala.
4 p.m.
ESPN+: https://bit.ly/42Mn9wI
Live Stats: smttt.info/Stats
Championship Central: https://smttt.info/2025softballchampionship

Southern Miss Notes

Southern Miss outfielder Hannah Christian delivered a freshman season for the record books. Starting 50 games in right field, Christian paced the team with 55 hits, the most ever by a freshman in program history. Christian batted .355 with a .477 slugging percentage, racking up a team-best 74 total bases and tying for the team lead with 23 RBI. She also led the Golden Eagles with six doubles, while adding two triples, three home runs, 16 walks and 12 stolen bases. Christian's consistency stood out in conference play, where she tallied 29 hits, which was the fifth most in the Sun Belt, and hit safely in all but four league games. She set a new freshman program record with a 15-game hitting streak stretching from March to April, and added a 21-game reached-base streak during her breakout year. A proven threat at the plate, Christian notched 14 multi-hit games, including five three-hit performances against Nicholls, North Dakota State, Troy and ULM.

True freshman pitcher Kayla Giardina led the Golden Eagles this season with a 3.29 ERA in 32 appearances, throwing 115 innings with 54 earned runs and just 28 walks allowed to 78 strikeouts. Giardina was a dominant force in the circle all season long and took the league by notice, throwing a total of six complete games, including back-to-back shutouts against James Madison and App State in April, becoming the first Golden Eagle to throw consecutive complete game shutouts since Morgan Leinstock accomplished the feat in 2022. She also became the first Golden Eagle freshman to throw over 100 innings since Samantha Robles in 2014. Giardina's 2.53 ERA in Sun Belt play ranked fifth in the conference. Giardina earned seven wins on the season, with a key victory against Ole Miss in February and throwing a career-high nine strikeouts for a win at Alabama State in March. Her three saves ranked as the most by a freshman in the league and the third most overall.

Graduate student Mikaila Fox enjoyed a career season, earning 42 hits with 21 RBI with a .342 batting average and a team-high .487 slugging percentage in 46 games played. Fox tallied ten extra-base hits, including six doubles, a triple and three home runs. She knocked 20 hits in conference play and won the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week on April 8 for her performance against ULM. Fox turned in a career week against Nicholls and the Warhawks, collecting eight hits and seven RBI while batting .571 and slugging 1.071. She recorded four straight multi-hit performances, becoming the first Golden Eagle to do so since Hannah Borden, a 2024 First Team All-Sun Belt selection, achieved last season. After recording two hits in a midweek contest at Nicholls, Fox led Southern Miss to its third consecutive series victory, highlighted by four extra-base hits with two doubles, a triple and a home run. She set a career-high four RBI in the series-clinching win against ULM. Fox also set a career-high with four hits on March 15 at Georgia Southern.

Head coach Natalie Poole reached 600 career wins in February this season against Jackson State. Southern Miss' 23 wins this season were the most in Poole's tenure, and the team's ten conference wins tied the most during her tenure.

The Golden Eagles finished the 2025 home slate with a 16-10 record at home, marking the team's fourth straight season with a .500 or above standing at the Southern Miss Softball Complex, the longest streak since 2008-2010.

Jana Lee continues to climb the program's all-time doubles list, surpassing her former teammate Hannah Borden, and now tied with Sarah Evans for the fourth most doubles in program history (39). Lee is three doubles away from tying the program record of 42, set by Tata Davis.
Tata Davis- 42 Doubles (231 games)
Ashley Davis- 41 Doubles (240 games)
Megan Hill- 40 Doubles (220 games)
Sarah Evans- 39 Doubles (215 games)
Jana Lee- 39 Doubles (186 games)
Hannah Borden- 38 Doubles (224 games)

Lee ranks fifth in the Sun Belt with 16 walks in conference play. Lee leads the Golden Eagles with 21 walks this season. Her 77 career walks also rank as the seventh most in program history.

Lee has also moved up in the RBI leaderboards, tied for fifth most in program history with 111 career RBI.

Megan Hill: 151 (220 games)
Hannah Borden: 150 (224 games)
Tata Davis: 149 (231 games)
Jennifer Fox: 118 (238 games)
Kenya Peters: 111 (253 games) T5: Jana Lee: 111 (186 games)

Lee and Giardina are the first Golden Eagle duo to each pitch 100 or more innings since Samantha Robles and Kim Crawson in 2018.

Scouting Coastal Carolina

Coastal Carolina is led by head coach Kelley Green, who has led the Chanticleers for 16 seasons with a 507-358 record.

The Chanticleers lead the Sun Belt with 83 home runs, which ranks eighth in Division I softball. Coastal Carolina also leads the league with 297 RBI and 746 total bases with a team .531 slugging percentage.

Georgia Hood paces the team with a .430 batting average, starting 53 games with 64 hits (4th Sun Belt), 18 home runs (2nd Sun Belt), 51 RBI (5th Sun Belt) and 37 walks (2nd Sun Belt).

Delaney Keith scored 49 runs (6th Sun Belt) and earned 54 hits with 31 walks (5th Sun Belt). Keirstin Roose also collected 56 hits, including 14 doubles (3rd Sun Belt) and 14 home runs (6th Sun Belt).

Nicolette Picone led the Sun Belt with a 24-9 record in the circle with a league-high five saves. Picone was the only Sun Belt pitcher to throw over 200 innings this season, giving up 185 hits, 72 earned runs, 52 walks, with 154 strikeouts (2nd Sun Belt) with a 2.42 ERA (3rd Sun Belt).

Series History

Coastal Carolina leads the all-time series between the two programs 7-2. The Chanticleers won a series against the Golden Eagles in Conway, S.C., last season. Southern Miss took one game in the series with an 11-9 win. The two teams also met in the 2023 Sun Belt Championship, with the Chanticleers pulling off a 4-2 win in ten innings to advance in the tournament.

For the latest information on Southern Miss Softball, follow the program on Facebook (facebook.com/SouthernMissSB), Twitter (@SouthernMissSB) and Instagram (@southernmisssb).

Softball Prepares for Opening Round of Sun Belt Championship Against Coastal Carolina

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hannah Borden

Hannah Christian

Mikaila Fox

Kayla Giardina

Jana Lee

Softball Prepares for Opening Round of Sun Belt Championship Against Coastal Carolina

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hannah Borden

Hannah Christian

Mikaila Fox

Kayla Giardina

Jana Lee

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