Less than three hours before they took the field to open the South Region 1 tournament at Steel’s Diamond against Albany State, three Valdosta State softball players were named to the All-South Region First Team.

Reigning two-time Gulf South Conference Player of the Year Courtney Albritton was named to the first team, along with senior left fielder Morgan Johnson and shortstop Shelby Altman, following the selection by the coaches from within the region.

With the selection to the First Team, all three players are now eligible to be named to the National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association’s All-America team, which will be announced next week.

Both Albritton and Johnson were named All-Americans during the Blazers’ national championship season a year ago.

Entering Friday’s tournament game against ASU, Albritton was hitting a team-high .414 this season with 17 home runs, 13 doubles, 46 runs batted and 69 runs scored. She also had a slugging percentage of .782 and an on-base percentage of .458.

Johnson entered Friday hitting .394 with a team-high 17 doubles, 47 RBIs and a team-high 23 walks. Altman, a transfer from the University of Georgia, was hitting .363 with a team-high 51 RBIs and 41 runs scored, 11 home runs and 11 doubles.

— Follow me on Twitter at @Ed_Hooper.