University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Softball
- Title:
- Director of Player Development
Presleigh Pilon begins her first season as Director of Player Development at Southern Miss during the 2025–26 school year.
Pilon joins the Golden Eagles following a successful collegiate playing career that included stops at LSU and Baylor.
During the 2024 season, Pilon appeared in and started all 59 games, hitting .234 with 40 hits, five doubles, and one home run while recording 20 RBIs. She began the season at second base before moving to shortstop, helping her team turn 24 double plays. She tied a career-high with three hits against BYU, hit her first collegiate home run in that series, and set a career-high with six assists against Houston. She also ranked No. 74 nationally in toughest to strike out.
In 2023, Pilon was one of two players to start all 58 games, tallying 40 hits and 22 RBIs. She contributed to a single-season program record of 31 double plays turned while adding 15 stolen bases and six sacrifice hits. She set single-game career highs in hits (3), RBIs (3), stolen bases (2), putouts (5), and assists (5).
Pilon began her collegiate career at LSU, where she made nine appearances with four starts during the 2022 season. She recorded nine assists and seven putouts without committing an error. She logged her first collegiate hit—a two-run single—against Stephen F. Austin (2/25) and added an RBI triple in a win over then-No. 2 Alabama (3/12).
She did not see game action during the 2021 season and was redshirted.
A 2020 graduate of Murrieta Mesa High School in Murrieta, California, Pilon was a highly decorated prep standout. She led her team to a CIF Championship as a freshman while hitting .450 and was ranked as high as No. 7 nationally in her class by Extra Inning Softball. A two-time Cal-Hi All-American and three-time all-league selection, she was also named her school’s Female Athlete of the Year. Despite a shortened senior season, she earned PGF All-American honors and her third All-American nod from Extra Inning Softball. She also starred in travel ball with Athletics-Mercado, helping the program win national championships at the 12U, 14U, and 18U levels.
The daughter of Brian and Jayme Pilon, she was born on January 8 and has three sisters: Brooklyn, Kaleigh, and Kenzie.
