NEW ORLEANS | For the third-straight preseason, South Alabama's Olivia Lackie and Mackenzie Brasher were named to the Sun Belt Conference all-league team on Wednesday as selected by the league coaches. 

Both Lackie and Brasher were also named to the league's preseason the previous two seasons.

Coming off a school-record 20 league wins a year ago, the Jaguars also received 127 points and were picked to finish second in the preseason poll.

The honor is the fourth of the preseason for Lackie as she has been named to a pair of national Top 100 lists – Softball America (No. 49) and D1Softball (No. 50) – as well as ranked as No. 21 on Softball America's Top 25 Pitchers list.

A first-team all-SBC selection for the third-straight season at the end of 2023, Lackie became the first player in program history to be named the Sun Belt's Pitcher of the Year after finishing with a 21-6 record, two saves, a 1.52 earned run average and 214 strikeouts. She also earned NFCA all-South Region honors for the third-straight season, picking up second-team honors, and became just the second player in program history to be a three-time all-region selection (Hannah Campbell, 2011-13).

Lackie broke Devin Brown's program single-season mark for SBC Pitcher of the Week selections with six, which were tied for fourth-most in a season by a Sun Belt pitcher.

Lackie set both the single-season (12) and career (31) marks for shutouts at South Alabama last spring, and ranked among the NCAA leaders in shutouts (second) with 12, just one shy of the national leader in the category, while also ranking among leaders in strikeouts (17th), wins (t23rd), ERA (23rd) and strike-to-walk ratio (27th).

Led by Lackie, the Jaguar pitching staff ranked as of the top in the nation tied for seventh with two other teams in shutouts (19), tied for eighth in earned run average (1.63), 11th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.97) and tied for 16th in strikeouts (361).

Brasher, who also earned second-team all-Sun Belt honors a year ago, was also selected to the conference's all-tournament team in 2023. 

One of the top outfielders in the league, Brasher started all 53 games in centerfield where she was third on the team in batting with a .309 average. Her 12 multi-hit games were fourth-most on the Jaguar roster and her 10-game hit streak during the season was tied for the longest on the club. She was one of three players on the team to record 50 hits during the year, while scoring 39 runs and driving in 13. Her 27 stolen bases – 17 of which came against league foes – led the club and were third-most in the Sun Belt.

The Orange Beach, Ala., native raised her batting average to .345 against league competition and her 29 hits in conference play were the most of any player on the Jaguar roster, while her 24 runs scored were the second most. Nine of her 13 RBI came with two outs, as she batted .310 in those situations and .341 with runners in scoring position. 

Brasher reached base safely in 20 of her 24 SBC outings and had a hit in 21 of those contests, eight of which were multi-hit efforts. Brasher scored 24 runs in conference play and recorded in seven of her 13 RBI in those games. 

Preseason Coaches' Poll
(First-place votes in parentheses)
1.    Louisiana - 144 (12)
2.    SOUTH ALABAMA - 127
3.    Texas State - 122
4.    Troy - 98
5.    James Madison - 94
6.    Coastal Carolina - 81
7.    Marshall - 79
8.    ULM - 59
9.    Southern Miss - 49
10.    Georgia State - 35
11.    Georgia Southern - 25
12.    App State - 23

Preseason All-Sun Belt Team
Lauren Allred, Louisiana (So., 1B – Texarkana, Texas)
Taylor McKinney, Troy (Jr., 2B – Montgomery, Ala.)
Alexa Langeliers, Louisiana (Jr., 2B – Keller, Texas)
Sydney Bickel, Marshall (Sr., SS – Peoria, Ariz.)
Brooke Ellestad, Louisiana (Jr., SS – Kimberly, Wis.)
Sara Vanderford, Texas State (Gr., 3B – Pasadena, Texas) 
Delaney Keith, Coastal Carolina (So., 3B – Nampa, Idaho)
Mihyia Davis, Louisiana (So., OF – Lovelady, Texas)
MACKENZIE BRASHER, SOUTH ALABAMA (Gr., OF – Orange Beach, Ala.)
Kayt Houston, App State (Sr., OF – Rock Hill, S.C.)
Sophie Piskos, Louisiana (Sr., C – Paris, Tenn.)
Iyanla De Jesus, Coastal Carolina (Gr., DP – Mill Creek, Wash.)
Jessica Mullins, Texas State (Sr., P – Tarkington, Texas)
OLIVIA LACKIE, SOUTH ALABAMA (Sr., P – Walker, La.)
Sam Landry, Louisiana (Jr., P – Mont Belvieu, Texas)

Preseason Player of the Year
Mihyia Davis, Louisiana (So., OF – Lovelady, Texas)

Preseason Pitcher of the Year
Jessica Mullins, Texas State (Sr., P – Tarkington, Texas)

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