Shane Thomas | The Valdosta Daily TimesValdosta State pitcher Kasie Johnson looks on during the seventh inning of Game 1 against West Georgia Saturday at Steel’s Diamond at Blazer Park.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. –– Four Valdosta State softball standouts were named to the 2019 All-Gulf South Conference Second Team, the league office announced Wednesday. 

Junior catcher Lacey Crandall, redshirt freshman second baseman Kiley Robb, sophomore pitcher Caylie Van Auken and senior pitcher Kasie Johnson all earned all-league accolades.

Despite being shutout on first team honorees, the four selections to the second team tied for second-most by one school on either the first or second team as West Florida had five first team honorees. Mississippi College and Alabama Huntsville each had four first team selections.

Johnson earned her second all-league accolade in as many seasons as she earned second team honors last season. She is 14-5 on the year in 23 appearances with 20 starts. She has completed ten games with four shutouts and a save. Johnson has pitched 116 innings for second on the team, while throwing 132 strikeouts for second on the team and walking a team-low 16. She ranks eighth nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 8.25 for second in the league, while ranking 33rd nationally in strikeouts per seven innings at an 8.0 clip for second in the conference. Her 132 strikeouts rank third in the GSC and she is second in the conference in shutouts (4), while ranking 23rdnationally and second in the league in walks per seven innings at 0.97. She was named GSC Pitcher of the Week twice this season.

Van Auken also has had an outstanding season for the Blazers as she also is 14-5 on the year with 16 complete games and four shutouts. She ranks third in the GSC in ERA at 1.76 for 57th nationally, while ranking fifth in GSC in hits allowed per seven innings at 5.98 and second in the league in shutouts (4). She leads the GSC in strikeouts (169) for 27th nationally and is fourth nationally in strikeout to walk ratio (9.39) to lead the league. Van Auken is 18th nationally and second in the league in strikeouts per seven innings (8.5) and is 19th nationally in walks allowed per seven innings (0.9). She has just 18 free passes on the year and was named GSC Pitcher of the Week three times. She also earned NFCA National Pitcher of the Week once this season. Van Auken tossed a season-high 14 strikeouts against Christian Brothers in an 8-inning, one-hitter, while recording six double-digit strikeout games this season.

Crandall is hitting .293 for the season with 34 hits, 19 runs, five doubles, three home runs and 22 RBI. She has a .991 fielding percentage behind the dish with 305 putouts in 325 chances with 17 assists. Crandall has 14 walks on the year, while recording a .414 slugging percentage and a .366 on base average. She ranks second in the league in sacrifice flies with three and has thrown out 14 runners this season to lead the team, as she is 28-41 in SBA/ATT.

Robbis one of three Blazers to play and start all 47 games. She leads the team with 12 home runs for third in the GSC and 48th nationally. She also leads the team with 38 RBI, while ranking second on the team in runs scored with 38. She has 39 hits for the year for third on the team, while she is tied for the team-lead in multi-hit games this season with 11. She has a team-high 11 multi-RBI games, while recording a seven game-hitting streak during the year, tying her for second-longest on the team.

West Florida’s Rhiannon Sassman earned GSC Player of the Year, while GSC Pitcher of the Year went to Cori Cooper of Mississippi College and Freshman of the Year went to Teala Howard of West Florida. West Florida, who won the 2019 regular season, coach Ashliegh McLean was named Coach of the Year.

VSU opened the 2019 Gulf South Conference Championship Thursday against West Alabama in Pensacola, Fla., at West Florida. Fans can access links to live stats, audio/video streaming, ticket information and more at vstateblazers.com on the softball schedule page.