JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Senior
Melanie Steer drew a walk-off walk in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Jacksonville State softball team to a 6-5 win over North Florida after the Gamecocks fell 1-0 to James Madison earlier in the day.
The Gamecocks (5-4) saw their third pitching gem in as many games early on Day Two of the UNF Tournament but overcame a late rally by the Ospreys in the second game to earn the split on the day.
After the host Ospreys erased a 5-1 seventh inning deficit to send the game into extras and both teams failed to push runs across in the eighth, JSU finally pushed the winning run across the plate in the ninth.
In the nightcap against the host Ospreys, the Gamecocks got on the board first and did so in the third inning.
Savannah Sloan led off the frame with a single and stole second to set up an RBI single from freshman
Jordan Bullock.
The Ospreys tied it in the top of the fifth, but the Gamecocks came right back in the bottom half to reclaim the lead at 3-1.
Cadi Oliver singled up the middle to drive in freshman
Jordan Bullock and then an error after an
Ella Denes single allowed Oliver to score.
A pair of UNF errors proved costly in the sixth, when the Gamecocks got two more runs across. A leadoff single from
Jamie McGuire got it started and errors on back-to-back balls hit by
Emily Woodruff and Bullock allowed the runs to score and gave JSU a 5-1 advantage.
The Ospreys stormed back in the seventh, getting a two-run double from Katie Mandigo and a two-run single from Stephanie Schmidt to tie the game at 5-5.
Ella Denes led off the home half of the seventh with a double to the gap in right center and another UNF error seemed to put JSU in business. McGuire got under her bunt attempt, popping into a double play and
Taylor Sloan grounded out to end the threat and send the game to extra innings.
The Ospreys got a runner at second via the international tiebreaker to start the eighth and bunted her over, but
Logan Green got a pair of ground outs to get out of the inning without allowing a run.
JSU pushed its runner to third in the home half of the inning with no outs but couldn't score, sending the game into the ninth. After UNF failed to score in the top of the inning, JSU finally capitalized in the home half.
Sara Borders started the frame on second, and the Gamecocks loaded the bases after an Oliver walk and a Denes single, setting up Steer's game winning walk.
Sophomore
Logan Green (3-1) earned the win in relief for JSU, holding the Ospreys off the board and to just one hit in 2.1 innings of work. Freshman
Whitney Gillespie tossed the first 6.2, allowing five runs on nine hits.
Kaylie Wallace suffered the loss for UNF after walking in the winning run. She pitched 2.0 innings, allowing the one unearned run and just one hit. Kayla Goff pitched the first six frames, giving up five runs, two earned, on 10 hits.
In the opener, JSU's
Taylor West went toe-to-toe with JMU's Jailyn Ford, an All-American a year ago and a member of the National Player of the Year Watch List for 2015. An unearned run in the sixth broke a scoreless tie and gave the Dukes the only run of the game.
JSU scattered four singles in seven innings against Ford, who struck out 10 in her complete game shutout. West suffered the tough-luck loss after surrendering just an unearned run on four hits in her six-inning complete game.
The Gamecocks wrap up the weekend on Sunday with an 11:15 a.m. CT game against Virginia Tech.
