FINAL STATS

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Sophomore Ashley Eliasson held James Madison to one hit in her first shutout of the season on Friday afternoon, when the Jacksonville State softball team rolled to a 6-0 win over the Dukes on a weather-altered first day of the University of Tennessee Softball Classic.

On a day that saw several scheduling changes because of inclement weather in the area, the Gamecocks (9-4) found out they would open the tourney against the Dukes (10-4) instead of their originally scheduled opener against North Dakota State. They will now play NDSU at 9:30 p.m. on Friday.

Jacksonville State got a first inning home run from senior Allie Barker and never looked back, allowing Eliasson (2-3) to put the Dukes away. The Vallejo, Calif., native faced just 24 batters, striking out six and walking one. She allowed a leadoff single to Julia Dominguez in the second but retired the next eight batters to allow her offense room to work.

Barker, a native of Gadsden, Ala., was 2-for-4 in the game, while junior Hillary Downs also picked up two hits in her five plate appearances. Downs, a native of Childersburg, drove in three runs, two of which came on a double to center that put the Gamecocks up 5-0 in the sixth.

Senior Jackie Jarman reached in all four of her plate appearances, going 3-for-3 with a triple, a walk and a pair of runs scored. Junior Chrissy O'Neal was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI in the win.

Jenny Clohan (7-2) took the loss in the circle for the Dukes after allowing five earned runs on 10 JSU hits in just 5.2 innings of work. She walked two and hit one batter.

The Gamecocks will play NDSU later on Friday, and the rest of the weekend's schedule will be altered. Two teams will not compete in the tournament because of the weather, so JSU will play a new schedule for the rest of the week, weather permitting. The updated schedule will be released later and will be posted at www.jsugamecocksports.com.