Box Score

MONTGOMERY – The Jacksonville State softball team jumped on Alabama State and cruised to a 22-2 win in the Gamecocks final non-conference game of the 2014 season on Wednesday.
 
The Gamecocks (37-12) scored five runs in the first and then used a 13-run second inning to run away from the Hornets (16-23) and extend their winning streak to eight games heading into the final weekend of the regular season. The JSU bats rattled off 15 hits, including six doubles, and drew 10 walks to score the most runs in a game by a Gamecock team since a 24-point output at Jackson State on Feb. 22, 1997.
 
Sophomore Cadi Oliver led the potent JSU offensive attack with a 3-for-5 night at the plate that saw her double twice and drive in four runs. She had an RBI double in the first and a two-run single in the second before a fielder's choice drove in another in her second at bat of the second inning.
 
In that 13-run second frame, JSU sent 18 batters to the plate and took advantage of four ASU fielding errors to break the game open. The Hornets committed six errors in the game, with the first leading to four unearned runs in the five-run first.
 
Every JSU starter scored at least one run, while eight of the nine starters scored at least two in the game. Oliver's four runs led the team, while senior Kalee Tabor and junior Savannah Sloan each scored three times for the Gamecocks.
 
ON top of Oliver's two doubles, Tabor, Taylor Sloan, Savannah Sloan and Stephanie Lewis also recorded two-baggers in the game. Lewis drove in two runs, her first career multi-RBI game. Senior Amanda Maldonado had three RBI in a 2-for-3 game that saw her notch two RBI singles and one bases-loaded hit by pitch.
 
Freshman Logan Green started the game and tossed the first two innings, allowing two runs on three hits. Fellow freshman Taylor West (4-2) earned the win in relief after holding ASU scoreless over a pair of innings. She did not allow a hit and struck out two, allowing just two baserunners on a pair of hit batters. Senior Savanna Hennings struck out one and allowed a pair of hits in a scoreless fifth inning.
 
The Hornets started Melissa Christmann (7-9) in the circle and had to pull her with two outs in the first. She allowed five runs on two hits, but only one run  was earned after a first inning error. Rachel Mills also only recorded two outs but surrendered nine runs on eight hits and a pair of walks before being removed for Shantelle Smith. The final ASU pitcher of the game gave up the final eight runs, only three earned, on five hits, six walks and two hit batters. Smith threw six of the Hornets' seven wild pitches.
 
Tamara Williams led the Hornets at the plate with a 2-for-3 game that saw her double and score a run. Meagan Dixon and Brittney Wilson each had an RBI for ASU.
 
The Gamecocks wrap up the regular season this weekend with a three-game series at Eastern Kentucky that will start at 12 p.m. CT on Saturday in Richmond, Ky. They will wrap up the series on Sunday at 12 p.m. JSU enters the final weekend with a slim lead over Eastern Illinois for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference and must win as many games as EIU at SIUE this weekend to win the regular season crown and host next week's OVC Tournament.