Box Score

JACKSONVILLE – Junior Kalee Tabor went 3-for-4 and sophomore Sara Borders hit a two-run home run in the fourth that erased a one-run deficit and gave the Jacksonville State softball team a 4-3 win over Alabama State on Tuesday at University Field.

The Hornets got three runs in the second, two unearned, to build a 3-1 lead, but after the Gamecocks (23-17) added one in the second, Borders delivered the big blow and gave JSU the lead for good.

Freshman Casey Akenberger allowed three runs, only one earned, on six hits in five innings of work to earn the win, while juniors Savanna Hennings and Tiffany Harbin threw scoreless frames to close the door. Harbin allowed one hit in the seventh en route to her first save of the season.

The Gamecocks were knocking on the door in every inning but couldn't seemed to break the game open. They left 12 runners on base during the game and stranded at least one runner in scoring position in every inning.

JSU got on the board in the bottom of the first on Tabor's first hit of the game, a single that plated Krystal Ruth after her leadoff double in the right field corner. ASU capitalized on a Gamecock miscue in the top of the second, when Tabor's throw to first on a Rachel Mills sac bunt sailed into the right field corner and allowed two runs to score. Mills would also come around to score on a Brehanna Rodrigues single to give the Hornets a 3-1 lead.

Senior Jessica Guy cut the Gamecocks deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the inning with a two-out single back up the middle that plated freshman Ella Denes. A freshman from Pisgah, Ala., Denes went 1-for-2 but reached in all three plate appearances in the game. She has now reached in six-straight plate appearances and in 11 of her last 12.

Denes set up Borders' game winning blast with a single to lead off the fourth. After Ruth and Guy were retired, Borders went down in the zone and drove ASU starter Destyni Valencia's pitch over the wall in right center for her team-leading ninth homer of the year.

Valencia (2-12) suffered the loss after allowing four runs on nine hits in five innings of work. She walked four before making way for Melissa Christmann, who gave up two hits in a scoreless sixth inning.

Guy and Borders each went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Gamecocks, while Rodrigues and Mills each notched two hits to lead ASU.

The Gamecocks take to the road for an eight-game swing, beginning with a three-game series at Morehead State this weekend. They will play a doubleheader at 12 p.m. CT on Saturday in Morehead, Ky., and will wrap up the weekend with a 12 p.m. CT single game on Sunday.