GAME ONE BOX SCORE
GAME TWO BOX SCORE

RICHMOND, Ky. – The offense continued to click for the Jacksonville State softball team on Saturday, when the Gamecocks used a pair of mercy-rule wins to sweep Eastern Kentucky in Ohio Valley Conference action.

The Gamecocks (26-9, 11-1 OVC) hit four home runs, two from freshman Allison Svoboda, to cruise to a 17-0 win in the opener before using a five-run fifth to hand the Colonels (14-19, 5-8 OVC) a 9-1 defeat in the nightcap. Svoboda, a native of Gardendale, Ala., drove in a school-record seven runs and her two homers tied the school record for round trippers in a game and made her just the ninth player in JSU history to achieve the feat.

Jax State has won its last five games via the mercy rule and are averaging 11.6 runs per game in that span. Saturday's game one win saw the Gamecocks set a school record for runs scored in an OVC game.

In the opener, the Gamecocks scored in the first four innings and put nine runs on the board in the fourth. Svoboda capped a five-run top of the first with a three-run homer down the left field line, the second of the inning for JSU after junior Nikki Prier belted a two-run blast to right center earlier in the frame.

RBIs from Prier and senior Courtney Underwood gave the Gamecocks a 7-0 lead after the second, and another RBI single from Prier in the third pushed the lead to 8-0 and set up the big fourth inning.

Freshman Meredith Sellers started the inning with a solo homer to left center, and Svoboda capped the frame with a grand slam. Svoboda entered the game with just two career homers and 13 RBI, and ended the day with four long balls and 20 RBI.

Senior Karla Pittman (8-1) held the Colonels scoreless on just two hits in her five innings in the circle. The North Canton, Ohio, native struck out four and walked one to win her seventh-straight decision and drop her team-leading ERA to 1.43.

Chelsea Butler (5-3) suffered the loss for EKU after allowing nine runs, six earned, on six hits and four walks in just 1.2 innings of work. Pam Webber and Diane Gallagher recorded the Colonels' lone hits in the game.

In the finale, sophomore Ashley Eliasson held the Colonel offense to a run on three hits to allow the Gamecock offense to put the game out of reach. The Vallejo, Calif., native struck out six in her five-inning complete game to improve to 11-4 and record her sixth win in her last six appearances.

The Gamecocks broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third, when Prier doubled to score junior Hillary Downs, who led off the inning with a double of her own. JSU added three more in the fourth, thanks to Prier's second two bagger of the game that plated Downs and senior Jackie Jarman. Senior Courtney Underwood followed with a single that drove in junior Chrissy O'Neal.

Shyenne Hussey got the Colonels on the scoreboard in the home half of the fourth with a solo home run to straightaway center that broke a string of eight straight batters retired by Eliasson.

Jacksonville State answered in the fifth, a five-run inning that was started by back-to-back doubles from Jarman and junior Mary Beth Ledbetter and capped by a bases-loaded two-run double from freshman Meredith Sellers. Senior Allie Barker also drove in a run in the inning on a single up the middle that plated Downs from third.

Stacye Toups suffered the loss for the Colonels after allowing a run on two hits in 2.1 innings in the circle. Jodi Pence tossed the next 1.2 frames, surrendering six runs on five hits and three walks along the way. Kalyn Fox gave up the other two runs on two hits in an inning of work.

The Gamecocks will be in action on Wednesday, when they travel to Oxford, Miss., to face Ole Miss in a single game at 4 p.m. CT. The game is a rescheduled matchup from their originally scheduled March 11 game that was postponed because of rain.