BIRMINGHAM – A six-run first inning and a pitching gem by Taylor West lifted the Jacksonville State softball team to a 7-2 win at No. 25 UAB on Tuesday, snapping the Blazers' 15-game win streak.
 
Junior Ella Denes blasted a grand slam to get the big inning started and West cruised to her fourth-straight win, propelling the Gamecocks (16-7) to their first win over a ranked foe since beating No. 13 Tennessee twice to win the 2009 Knoxville Regional. The Blazers (21-6) fall at home for the first time this season and suffer their first loss since Feb. 20.
 
Senior Sara Borders went 3-for-5 with a double to lead a 10-hit attack for JSU, while Denes drove in four runs on her big swing. Seniors Melanie Steer and Savannah Sloan each went 2-for-4 in the No. 7 and 8 spots in the order.
 
West (5-2) held the Blazers to two runs on five hits and struck out five in her complete game win. She walked four but needed only 110 pitches to dispose of the Blazers lineup.
 
The Gamecocks jumped on the Blazers, putting six quick runs on the board in the top of the first inning. Denes' opposite field grand slam sparked the JSU lineup and put four runs on the board. A Taylor Sloan sac fly and an Emily Woodruff RBI single made it 6-0 and chased UAB starter Madison Hir from the circle before she could get out of the first inning.
 
After loading the bases twice in the first, the Gamecocks loaded them again in the second and got an RBI single from Steer to make it a 7-0 Gamecock lead.
 
The Blazers got their first baserunner and mounted their first threat in the third, loading the bases with one out, but West worked around the No. 2 and 3 hitters in the lineup to keep the zero on the scoreboard.
 
The Blazers threatened again in the fifth, an inning that started with a highlight reel grab by Woodruff in the left center field gap. UAB put the next two batters on for the same spot in the order, but West struck out JoJo Fallen and got Sara Beth Williamson to ground one back to the circle to end another scoreless frame.
 
UAB got on the board in the home half of the sixth after an RBI double from Ashley Johnson and a sac fly from Anna Theriot cut JSU's lead to 7-2. The Blazers went down in order in the seventh to finish West's fifth complete game and third in the last week.
 
Hir (3-1) suffered the loss after allowing six runs on six hits and a walk in just two-thirds of an inning. Cara Goodwin entered to finish the first and went the final six, allowing just one run on four hits, while walking three and striking out three.
 
The Gamecocks open Ohio Valley Conference play this weekend with a pair of home doubleheaders, starting with a 1 p.m. twinbill against UT Martin on Saturday. They will then host Southeast Missouri at 1 p.m. on Sunday in a doubleheader at University Field. JSU students and all fans ages 18 and under receive free admission to all JSU home softball games.