VALDOSTA — Five members of the Valdosta State softball team received All-South Region recognition, and two of them were also named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team.

Alex Acosta and Robin Williams were named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-South Region first team, while Kristina Ely, Andi Braswell and Shannon Cleland were named to the second team.

Williams, Ely and Acosta also were named to the 2008 Daktronics All-South Region second team.

The five players were the heart of a dangerous Lady Blazers lineup that hit .314 this season and blasted 82 home runs.

Acosta, who was the Gulf South Conference Player of the Year in both 2007 and 2008, ended the season with a .376 batting average. The senior shortstop from Hialeh, Fla. had a team-high 80 hits, 14 doubles, 13 home runs and a school-record 64 RBIs. She was also one of the nation’s top defensive shortstops, with a .955 fielding percentage.

Williams, a Valdosta native who started and played in every game this year, had a .355 average with 66 hits, nine doubles, 13 home runs, 56 RBIs and a .985 fielding percentage. The senior first baseman/catcher was named to the All-GSC first team.

Ely, who broke the school record for home runs in a season with 19, ended her senior year with a .322 batting average and accumulated 67 hits, 12 doubles and 51 RBIs. At second base, she had a .971 fielding percentage. The Sarasota, Fla. native was also named to the All-GSC first team.

In Braswell’s first year as a Lady Blazer, she started and played in every game, racking up a .329 average, 74 hits, 14 doubles, 10 home runs and 43 RBIs. She also stole 15 bases. The junior third baseman from Jacksonville, Fla. was named to the All-GSC second team.

Cleland, a senior right fielder from Dawsonville, batted .286 this year and had 58 hits, seven doubles, 14 home runs and 45 RBIs. Defensively, she had a .962 fielding percentage and gunned down three runners from right field.

All five players will be eligible for All-America status, which will be released at a later date.

ESPN The Magazine has named Acosta to the Academic All-America first team, while Williams made the second team. Acosta, a criminal justice major, has a 3.65 GPA and graduated cum laude with her degree earlier this month. Williams maintains a 3.37 in her first year of graduate school.

Valdosta State went 48-19 this year, and finished second in the GSC East Division and third at the conference tournament.