As the 2025-26 school year concludes, GCSU spring sports once again had a successful season.
This marks the second edition of the half-season awards for the Colonnade, and while GCSU celebrates its athletes with the Catspys, which take place April 29, I’ll use the abbreviation “CSAs” for our Colonnade Sports Awards.
There are many sports for GCSU in the spring, including baseball and softball headlining the group, with the ever-important men’s and women’s tennis and men’s golf rounding out the season. Each team will have a Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Freshman of the Year (FOTY).
Before diving into the awards, I want it to be known that this is my personal opinion and not officially connected with GCSU Athletics. I’d also like to make readers aware that the true MVPs are the fans of GCSU Athletics and those who’ve followed the teams throughout the seasons.
Opening with men’s golf, two specific players stood out to me throughout the season who truly showed prowess for the two awards. For the honor of MVP, Andy Scott truly deserves the award. In the Bobcats’ last three invitationals, Scott either led the team or tied for the lead.
With a new head coaching scheme on the horizon with Ben English, expectations are high and well-founded for Scott as he enters his junior season as a CSA MVP.
Moving to Freshman of the Year, Andrew Lutjens heavily deserved the honors. The freshman from Cartersville, Georgia, has been neck-and-neck with the aforementioned MVP for the latter half of the season, going on to tie him in the PBC championship. Lutjens deserved and earned the first men’s golf CSA Freshman of the Year.
Moving to tennis, will begin with the women’s squad. From time to time in professional sports, a player will bring home multiple awards. While the women’s team did not have a freshman player on the roster, the award will change to “Lower Classman of the Year” for this scenario. Luckily enough for the recipient of that award, she also deserves the honors of MVP as well.
Natalie Kirka played above and beyond throughout the season for the GCSU women’s tennis team. The sophomore from Marietta, Georgia, won her first five singles matches on the season, without even letting opponents get close. She later went on to win 14 of her 21 singles contests of the year.
When teaming up with senior Laura Almagro, they continued their dominance on the court, going 13-6 in their doubles contests. Kirka earned and deserved both the first women’s tennis CSA MVP and CSA Lower Classman of the Year.
On to men’s tennis. Chase Martin brings home the honors of the CSA MVP, leading the Bobcats in wins with eight. While Martin struggled at the end of the season, dropping his final three contests, he opened the season to a 6-1 record in late February and early March.
Martin’s most impressive win came early in the month, dominating on the court against Pedro Liborio, part of the number 14-ranked University of North Georgia.
Out of Murcia, Spain, David Muñoz Botia impressed in his first season on the courts. Botia followed directly behind Martin in victories at 6-5, winning five of his first six collegiate contests. Big things are expected for Botia throughout the remainder of his collegiate career.
For baseball and softball, the awards will include an offensive MVP, a pitching MVP and, as always, a freshman of the year. As a heads up, with baseball and softball ongoing, statistics may change.
Beginning with baseball, the GCSU offense had many great players this year; however, the three names that truly stand out for me are Carson Phillips, Evan Cowan, and Luke Boone. While Cowan and Phillips are all-star players, Boone has been the player to watch for me from the beginning of the season.
The transfer out of South Georgia State College stood out to me from the get-go as Coach Jeff Pelkey put him on my radar in the opening remarks of his thoughts coming in to his first year as GCSU baseball’s head coach. Since then, Boone has led the Bobcats in home runs (6) and total bases (90). He’s also played solid defense with a .315 batting average to wrap things up.
To go along with everything, Boone collected a two-home-run, six RBI performance in late February against the University of South Carolina Beaufort. Boone deserved this year’s CSA MVP.
While GCSU’s pitching struggled in the season and had to pivot after the loss of a pair of starting pitchers, Keaton Prior, this year’s CSA pitching MVP, locked things down in his 12 starts on the season. Prior pitched to a 4.74 ERA, completing three of his starts and throwing 68 and one-third innings. Prior also pitched a seven-inning no-hitter over USC Beaufort.
Carson Vick was another one of the players Pelkey mentioned at the beginning of the year. The backstop out of Powder Springs, Georgia, split time, and did it well with the veteran catcher, Rand Bestermann. Vick, in his freshman season, batted .295 for GCSU and sits right behind the offensive MVP in doubles with 14. The young catcher quickly slid into the top third of the lineup for over half the season.
To choose the offensive MVP is the most difficult out of all the teams today, and while a number of the players on the team deserve the award, Karlie Gutierrez, Sydney Lancaster, Reina Checo, and Stephanie Condland, the easy choice goes to Emily Hobbs.
Hobbs is a consistent threat in a number of categories for GCSU, playing in all 44 contests and leading the team in average (.367) as of April 25, runs scored (31), total bases (64), walks (21) and stolen bases (13).
The senior from Ochlocknee, Georgia, leads the team in many offensive categories while playing solid defense at shortstop, and she also provides an experience-based leadership that has helped GCSU reach a high spot in the Peach Belt Conference standings. The Bobcats are lucky to get Hobbs back for another season, as she will return as the reigning CSA MVP.
However, GCSU softball pitching is another story. While Tiffany Caban has an incredible comeback story, getting better and better as the season went on, Sydney Garrett stepped things up in her sophomore season. The Chickamauga, Georgia native pitched to the tune of a 2.63 ERA in the season, striking out 16 percent of all batters she’s faced, or 84 total punch-outs.
Garrett also threw a no-hitter to end March against Emmanuel University and even had her ERA dip below two for a series of contests over halfway into the season.
While GCSU did not give many freshmen the nod this year, showing how well Coach Brittany Johnson is at building team depth, Halley Nobles and Kennedy Picket both did a phenomenal job in their freshman years.
While Pickett pitched well in her 14 and one-third innings, pitching to a 3.42 ERA. Nobles collects the Freshman of the Year honors for me. While she batted .261 in her 20 games, 16 of which she started, she showed patience at the plate, and it led to a .404 on-base percentage. She also scored as many times as she had hits, played solid defense and stole six bases.
Once again, these are my personal opinions for the Bobcat MVP and Freshman of the Year awards, as well as honorable mentions. The Bobcats’ spring sports had successful seasons overall, yet these decisions were still challenging. GCSU sports as a whole played well throughout the entire school year, and I know the fans are excited for what GCSU will bring to the table at the tail end of 2026 and beginning of 2027. As always, go Bobcats!