FMU adds Hartsville southpaw to Patriots team
Alyssa Poston. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Francis Marion University softball head coach Stacey Vallee has announced the addition of left-handed pitcher Alyssa Poston of Hartsville, S.C., as she will transfer from Mars Hill University to FMU for the 2023-24 year. Poston will have three years of eligibility with the Patriots.
This past season, Poston recorded a 7-8 mark in the pitching circle with a 3.31 earned run average, 11 complete games, and two shutouts. She averaged nearly seven strikeouts per game. At the plate, she batted .272 with four extra-base hits, 14 runs batted in, and a .392 on-base percentage. She led the Lions with 16 stolen bases in 18 attempts.
Poston is a 2022 graduate of Hartsville High School, where she played for coaches Amber Harvey and Tommy Garrison. She was a teammate of current FMU first baseman Taylor Watford. Poston earned six varsity letters with the Red Foxes and was a three-time All-State and All-Region selection.
As a senior, she was named the Florence Morning News Player of the Year, the Region 6-AAAA Player of the Year, and a North-South All-Star selection.
Her career mark as a prep pitcher was 58-9 with 571 strikeouts. As a freshman, she was unbeaten in the circle (20-0) as Hartsville went undefeated and won the state championship, and she was named a Max Prep Freshman All-American and a USA Today Freshman All-American.
“Alyssa is a local product that we are very excited to learn wanted to come back closer to home,” Vallee said. “She is a natural lefty and those are hard to find, especially successful pitchers. She can pitch, hit, and play the outfield. She is coming off a good freshman year that was highlighted by a pair of 11-strikeout games – including one against Lenoir-Rhyne University (an eventual NCAA Tournament team) – and at the plate hitting a grand slam against Limestone University.
“She has all the tools to be very successful in our conference and region as a pitcher. We are excited to get to work with her to improve the tools she already has. Being a lefty, she has an advantage of coming at batters from the other side, but on top of that, she knows how to spin the ball and is a driven competitor. We love pitchers on the mound who know how to compete, and she will complement our staff well with that mentality. On the base paths, she is quick, and she led Mars Hill in walks and stolen bases.
“She played with Taylor in high school – where we recruited both of them – and we are thrilled to see them on the field together again at FMU.”
Francis Marion loses four seniors off this past season’s squad that went 42-13, won the Conference Carolinas Tournament title, and made a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The 42 victories tied for the most in program history.
Earlier in the year, Vallee announced the signing of four high school seniors as part of her 2023 recruiting class: second baseman Karson Cuozzo of Oviedo, Fla., utility player Marlee McCormick of Batesburg, S.C., second baseman Chandler Mobley of Wallace, N.C., and right-handed pitcher Abby Williams of Cumming, Ga.