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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Jacksonville State softball team used a record-tying performance from Krystal Ruth to down Bowling Green 12-7 and then defeated Youngstown State 8-3 on the final day of the Kennesaw State Phyllis Rafter Memorial Tournament on Sunday.

Ruth, a senior from Wylie, Texas, went 5-for-5 in the early morning win over Bowling Green, just the third time in school history a player has had five hits in a game and the first since Melinda McDonald did it twice in 2004. The other player to achieve the feat was current assistant coach Julie Boland in 1998. Ruth singled four times and doubled once to drive in a pair of runs and score three more.

She started the game with a leadoff double at about 7 a.m. CT that sparked a four-run inning that would put the Gamecocks in the driver's seat. Junior Kalee Tabor delivered the big blow of the frame with a two-run double and then scored on an Amanda Martinez Sacrifice fly. She singled in the second, an RBI knock to center that scored freshman Ella Denes and gave JSU a 5-2 lead. Ruth also had singles in each the fourth, fifth and seventh innings to cap her historic morning.

JSU had five doubles in the game, with two of them coming off of Tabor's bat. She and senior Jessica Guy each went 2-for-5 in the 15-hit outburst, while sophomore Savannah Sloan went 3-for-5 with an RBI. The Gamecocks saw the Eagles cut the lead to two twice before a pair of two-run innings in the fourth and fifth gave JSU a more comfortable cusion for the pitching duo of Hilary Phillips and Casey Akenberger.

Phillips, a senior that made her return from an arm injury suffered last season on Wednesday, tossed the first four innings to earn her first win of the season. She surrendered three runs, just one earned, on two hits, while striking out two and walking two. Akenberger notched her first career save with three innings that saw her allow four runs, only one earned, on three hits and three walks. She recorded one strikeout.

Braiden Dillow suffered the loss for the Eagles after allowing five runs on eight hits in 4.2 innings in the circle. Paris Imholz gave up four, while Jamie Kertes surrendered the other three. Katie Yoho and Andrea Arney each homered to pace the BGSU offensive attack.

In the final game of the day, the Gamecocks erased a 2-0 deficit and used a five-run third inning to pull away from the error-prone Penquins. YSU committed six errors that led to three unearned runs, two of which came in that third inning.
After the Penguins put a pair on the board in the second, the Gamecocks got one back in a two-error bottom half of the inning. In the third, JSU notched just one hit but used two errors, two walks and a hit batter to take control of the game.

Another error cost YSU a run in the fourth, and Tabor delivered a solo homer in the seventh to cap JSU's scoring.

Junior Tiffany Harbin earned the win in relief after holding the Penquins to a run on four hits in just five innings in the circle. She fanned seven of the 15 batters she retired in relief of starter Savanna Hennings, who allowed two runs, one earned, in her two innings.

Hana Somoygi was tagged with the loss after allowing eight runs, five earned, on four hits in six innings. She struck out two and walked three.

Sophomore Sara Borders led JSU at the plate with a 2-for-4 game that included a double and run scored.

The Gamecocks will host Georgia Tech on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at University Field and will also dedicate the newly renovated facility in a pregame ceremony that will begin at 4:30 p.m.