GAME ONE BOX SCORE
GAME TWO BOX SCORE

CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Jacksonville State softball team clinched its second-straight Ohio Valley Conference Championship and the third in the last five seasons on Saturday, when the Gamecocks swept a doubleheader at Eastern Illinois.

The Gamecocks (34-9, 16-1 OVC) got three RBI from freshman Meredith Sellers in a 5-1 win in the first game before riding a four-hit shutout by sophomore Ashley Eliasson to a 2-0 defeat of the Panthers (24-22, 8-9 OVC) in the nightcap. JSU extended its winning streak to 17 games, which is tied with UMass for the longest in the nation and ties the 2005 Gamecocks for the longest streak in school history.

Junior Chrissy O'Neal went 3-for-7 at the plate to pace a JSU offense that hit just .250 on the day, but the Gamecock pitching duo of Eliasson and senior Karla Pittman continued its impressive run in league play by posting a 0.50 ERA on the day and limiting the EIU bats to a .241 average.

In the opener, Pittman (14-1) won her 12th-straight decision by striking out eight and limiting the EIU offense to a run on nine hits in her 12th complete game of the season. The native of North Canton, Ohio, improves to 9-0 with a 0.51 ERA in league play.

Eliasson (13-4) ran her OVC record to 7-1 while dropping her ERA to 0.86 in league play by tossing her fifth shutout of the year in the second game. The Vallejo, Calif., native struck out six in seven innings that saw her surrender just four hits to the Panthers.

In the opening game, Sellers, a native of Columbiana, Ala., broke a scoreless tie in the third with her fifth homer of the season, a three-run shot down the left field line. The Panthers got one back in the bottom of the frame when Hayley Pieper drew a bases loaded walk from Pittman, but it would be all they would be able to muster.

Freshman Allison Svoboda's RBI single in the fifth stretched the JSU lead to 4-1 before O'Neal's eighth home run of the season, a solo blast to right center in the sixth, gave the Gamecocks the deciding 5-1 advantage.

Amber May (17-14) suffered the loss for EIU after giving up five runs on eight hits in seven innings in the circle. She struck out five and walked three along the way.

In the finale, EIU starter Kathleen Jacoby (6-9) didn't allow a hit before issuing six walks that led to two Gamecock runs before being pulled with no outs in the second. May tossed the final six frames and held JSU scoreless on five hits along the way.

Svoboda had the only RBI in the second game, thanks to her bases-loaded walk in the first. She was one of five JSU players that scattered the team's five hits in the game.

With the regular season crown, the Gamecocks earn the right to host the OVC Tournament on May 7-9 at University Field for the second year in a row.

The two teams will wrap up the three-game series on Sunday with a single game beginning at 1 p.m.