FINAL STATS

JACKSONVILLE – Senior Karla Pittman pitched a two-hit shutout on Wednesday night to lead the Jacksonville State softball team to a 4-0 win over Kennesaw State at University Field.

The Gamecocks (11-4) got home runs from juniors Chrissy O'Neal and Nikki Prier, and Pittman did her job in the circle to lift JSU to its third-straight win and its eighth in the last 10 games. Pittman (2-0), a native of North Canton, Ohio, struck out five batters and walked one en route to her second complete game of the season. The Owls (6-9) were able to muster just a pair of singles in the loss.

“It was nice to see Karla back,” JSU head coach Jana McGinnis said. “She looked like her old self tonight. She seemed to get stronger as the game went on, and we are going to need performances like that out of her in order to compete for a championship this season.”

Freshman Meredith Sellers and junior Hillary Downs hit safely once apiece to help O'Neal and Prier account for the Gamecocks' four hits.

Prier, a native of Raliegh, N.C., got the Gamecocks on the board in the second with an opposite field home run that just cleared the wall in the left center field gap. That would be all the support Pittman would need, as she faced just three more than the minimum and tossed just 79 pitches.

JSU tacked on three insurance runs in the home half of the fifth, thanks to a line-drive homer from O'Neal that just cleared the wall in center, and an RBI double from Sellers, just her second extra-base hit of the season.

Amanda Burns (1-2) was tagged with the loss for Kennesaw State after surrendering four runs on four hits in 4.2 innings in the circle. She walked five and struck out six in her 105-pitch outing. April Harper worked the finial 1.1 innings, walking a batter and holding JSU hitless down the stretch.

Jax State will travel to Woodstock, Ga., this weekend, where they will compete in the Georgia Tech Buzz Classic. They will open the tournament on Friday at 3 p.m. CT against Albanay, before taking on Winthrop at 5 p.m. Live stats for all games in the tournament will be available at www.jsugamecocksports.com.