Shorter University to Realign, Join Conference Carolinas

Conference Carolinas on Thursday announced the addition of Shorter University to their membership.

Shorter will join the league in the 2024-25 academic year and their first year competing for the league’s softball title will be the 2025 season.

Realignment has been a focus of the Conference Carolinas, as Shorter is the second program to join the league in a three-month span. In November 2022, Young Harris also accepted an invitation to join the league and will begin competing in the 2024 season.

Following the addition of Young Harris in November, the conference announced plans to move to a three-division model in several sports, including softball. “Taking advantage of the geographic alignment of our membership and regionalizing scheduling has been a goal of the Conference Carolinas Board of Directors for some time,” conference commissioner Chris Colvin said at the time. “This three-division concept will promote regional rivalries and provide additional opportunities for institutions to strive for regular-season division championships.”

The Shorter softball program currently competes in the Gulf South Conference. The Hawks finished the 2022 season with a 6-44 overall record and two wins in conference play. The program’s most recent winning season came in 2017, when they won 28 games overall and finished 17-15 in conference play.