From STAFF REPORTS

AMERICUS – Georgia Southwestern State University athletic director Mike Leeder has hired Nicki Levering to be the school’s next head softball coach. Levering comes to Georgia Southwestern from South Georgia State College where she served as head coach the past four seasons.
“We are very excited to add Nicki Levering as our softball coach for the 2017-18 season,” Leeder said. “We were pleasantly surprised by the number and quality of the applicants we had for the position.
“Nicki was clearly the number one choice of the committee, our current softball players, and rest of the GSW campus community to lead our softball program. Her experience, proven recruiting success and her demonstrated ability to lead a competitive softball program in all facets made her an ideal choice to build upon the foundation laid by retiring head coach Eddie Ward.”
This past spring, under Levering’s leadership, South Georgia State posted 30-plus wins for the second consecutive season, finishing 31-20. In 2015, the Hawks captured the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) regular season championship with a record of 12-2 in league play and 32-9 overall, earning Levering GCAA Coach of the Year honors.
“GSW has made a significant financial investment in our softball program, and we are looking forward to watching Nicki lead our program into a very bright future,” Leeder said.
All told, Levering produced 14 GCAA All-Region players and two All-American nominees during her time at South Georgia State.
“I just want to thank athletic director Mike Leeder for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to coach at Georgia Southwestern,” Levering said. “I also want to thank Eddie Ward for building the foundation for the softball program. I’m honored to have been chosen and I’m looking forward to the upcoming season.”
Prior to South Georgia State, Levering was the assistant coach at Galveston College in Galveston, Texas, where the team was 2013 NJCAA Region 14 regular season champions and finished the season ranked No. 7 in the country.
Levering, a native of Nashville, Tenn., had a successful career as a collegiate athlete as well. She played catcher and third base at both Seminole Community College (Sanford, Fla.) and Trevecca Nazarene University (Nashville, Tenn.). She was a National Fastpitch Coaches Association Academic All-American in 2005 at SCC and a 2008 team captain at Trevecca Nazarene, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science. Levering was on a Trevecca Nazarene squad that won NAIA Regional IX and Tran South Conference championships in 2007 and 2008.
After her playing career ended, she served as a graduate assistant for two years at the University of North Alabama earning a master’s degree in health and human performance. Currently, Levering is in pursuit of her doctorate in adult and career education at Valdosta State University.