FINAL STATS

WOODSTOCK, Ga. – A big fifth inning proved costly for the Jacksonville State softball team on Sunday night, when Penn State rallied for a 6-4 win over the Gamecocks in the final game of the Georgia Tech Buzz Classic.

After having Saturday's game rained out and Sunday's delayed until late afternoon, the Gamecocks (8-6) and Nittany Lions (7-5) finally got their final game of the weekend started at almost 8:30 local time. On a cold night that featured a sub-freezing wind chill, JSU scored its first two batters of the night before its bats went cold.

PSU used one big inning, a four-run fifth that was highlighted by a Kailyn Johnson three-run homerun, to spoil a night that saw JSU pitchers Tiffany Harbin and Ashley Eliasson combine for 10 strikeouts.

Junior Kaycee Crow went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs to lead the Gamecocks at the plate, while junior Kristin Graham's 2-for-4 night resulted in one RBI.

Harbin (4-4) suffered the loss after allowing five runs on six hits in five innings of work that saw her strike out eight and walk one. Eliasson surrendered a run on two hits and struck out two in one inning.

Kelci Johnston and Hayden Crawford singled and doubled, respectively, to start things off for the Gamecocks in the first. The back-to-back hits set up RBI singles from Crow and Graham that gave JSU an early 2-0 lead.

Danee Collett got the Nittany Lions on the board in the home half of the third, when her one-out single drove in Lauren Yao from second and cut the JSU lead to 2-1.

The same duo struck again in the fifth, this time with a two-out single to tie the score at 2-2. PSU then got a three-run homer from Kailyn Johnson that extended the two-out rally and gave the Nittany Lions their first lead of the night at 5-2. Yao got her first hit of the night in the sixth, an RBI double that put one more on the board.

JSU mounted a rally in the seventh, plating two on a Crow single, but Graham struck out to close the game representing the tying run.

PSU's Jackie Hill (4-3) went the distance for the Nittany Lions, allowing four runs, two earned, on eight hits in seven innings. She struck out eight and walked one.

Collett led PSU at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two RBI.

The Gamecocks will be at home on Tuesday, when they host Samford in a 2 p.m. doubleheader that was scheduled to make up the games lost this weekend. The twinbill will be at University Field, where admission is free for all games.