2016 GSC Softball Championship Tournament Live Scoring/Schedule

ROME, Ga. – When she graduated from Gordon Lee High School, where she established herself as a highly-recruited softball player, Kendall Johnson wasn't planning to keep playing the game on the collegiate level, hoping instead to pursue a nursing career.

That plan, however, changed and four years after deciding to commit to Shorter University and both play for the Lady Hawks and enter the nursing program, the lone senior on the team has been making other plans, including getting married this summer.

Yet for the next few days, Johnson's only plan is to prove to the Gulf South Conference that Shorter has what it takes once again to defending its league title when the No. 6-seeded Lady Hawks open play Thursday morning in a first-round game against No. 3 seed and No. 21-ranked West Florida at 11 a.m. in the 2016 GSC Championship Tournament being held in Florence, Ala.

"I'd rather be going into the conference tournament on a constant climb," said Johnson, who has been the Lady Hawks' foundation at shortstop the last two season and has played a key role in helping the program make an immediate impact of the GSC and the NCAA Division II ranks. "We've learned how to do that and now we're going up the hill."

The Lady Hawks enter the double-elimination tourney with a 29-18 record and have won five of their last six outings, the final two decision coming in the final two games of the regular season against the 37-7 West Florida Argos.

That late-season run bodes well for Johnson and her teammates, especially knowing that last year the team found itself in a similar position heading into the postseason, then reeled off upset after upset against three of the GSC's nationally-ranked teams to win the conference crown – Shorter's first league title – and carried the momentum over to claim the NCAA South Region championship and earn a trip to the Division II Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla., where reached the Final Four.

"I think we've carried over what we did last year," said Johnson, who in 2915 was an All-GSC Second Team pick and was named an All-NFCA South Region selection. "It gives us confidence.

"There are so many teams and so many players who don't get to go to Oklahoma," she said. "It was a blessing for me."

Confidence is, Lady Hawks head coach Al Thomas points out, is what Johnson has brought to the diamond for the last four seasons.

"Nobody I have coached ever coached as had more of a will to win than she does," the coach said of his player. "She has that never-say-die attitude."

That attitude is noticeable throughout the Shorter roster as evident in what they did in their regular season finale this past Sunday against West Florida when the Lady Hawks prevailed in a nine-inning battle as a double by Savannah Thomas in the top of the inning drove pinch runner Maddie Hunt in with the deciding run and pitcher Peyton Lippert sealed the deal holding UWF scoreless for the ninth time and notch the decision.

And the contributions have come from up and down Shorter's lineup.

Johnson enters the tournament batting .328 and has driving in 38 runs, while leading the team in runs (38), doubles (11), triples (3) and assists (109.)

The Lady Hawks also boast two of their own who earned conference honors as Niki Cook, who leads Shorter with a .438 averages, was an All-GSC First Team pick for the second straight year and Tiffany Holland earned Second Team All-GSC honors having a .387 average.

Kameron Carter is also having a banner year at the plate hitting .347 with a team-leading 12 home runs, and on the mound Lippert (16-10, 1.96 ERA), Kalei Kimbrell (1.95 ERA, 6 saves) and Hannah Draper (9-6, 2.20 ERA) have been the Lady Hawks' mainstays on the mound.

Still, Thomas and his team understand what's ahead of them as once again the GSC boasts some of the nation's toughest teams. No. 4-ranked North Alabama – Shorter stunned UNA in last year's tourney – won the regular-season title and is the tournament's top seed with an impressive 46-5 slate and former national champion Valdosta State (38-10-1) in the No. 2 seed.

No. 4 seed Alabama-Huntsville (38-13) and No. 5 Delta State (33-18) round out the field, one in which just two games separated the second and sixth-seeded teams.

"We need to do what we do – play like we've been playing no matter who we play," said Thomas.

The winner of the Shorter-West Florida game returns to the field Thursday afternoon to take on North Alabama, with the loser of the opener back in action Friday morning.