CHARLESTON, S.C. – Senior
Sara Borders homered twice and drove in six runs to lift the Jacksonville State softball team to wins over Wright State and Iona Friday morning at the Charleston Southern Tournament.
The Alexandria, Ala., native went 2-for-3 with a home run, a double and two RBI in a 3-1 win over Wright State early before homering and driving in four in a 12-1 rout of Iona to wrap up day one of the Gamecocks (11-6) weekend.
JSU totaled 24 hits over the two games, while sophomores
Taylor West and
Logan Green each struck out seven batters in the circle. The Gamecocks have now won seven of nine and saw Borders, the defending Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, snap out of her recent hitting skid.
After going hitless in her previous three games, Borders seemed to snap out of it on Wednesday at Samford, but her first-inning three-run homer against the Bulldogs was negated by rains that came an inning later. She picked up on Friday where she left off in Birmingham two days prior, going 4-for-7 with two homers and a double in the two games combined.
In the early game of the day, the Gamecocks racked up 10 hits against WSU and had three players with multiple hits in the game. Borders homered and doubled in a run, while
Taylor Sloan and
Jamie McGuire each had a pair of singles in three at bats. Freshman
Emily Woodruff drove in JSU's other run.
In the circle, West (2-2) grabbed the win after holding the Raiders to a run on five hits in 6.1 innings of work. She struck out seven and walked just one before making way for freshman
Whitney Gillespie in the seventh. Gillespie got the final two outs to earn her second save of the year.
Borders got the scoring started in the bottom of the second with a leadoff homer to left, her second of the year and 33rd of her career. The blast tied Breanne Oleman (2002-05) for sixth on JSU's career homer list.
Libby Pfeffer tied the game with a third-inning single, but the Gamecocks reclaimed the lead in the fourth on Woodruff's RBI single, an infield hit to the shortstop. Borders doubled in
Taylor Sloan to push JSU's third run across in the fifth.
Montana Wear (0-8) suffered the loss for WSU after surrendering three runs on 10 hits in six innings in the circle. She struck out four and didn't issue a walk.
In the second game, Borders struck first and did so early on. Her single through the left side scored freshman
Jordan Bullock and put JSU up 1-0 over Iona. The Gaels tied it in the bottom of the inning on a Brianna Schauer double, and that 1-1 score would stand until the third.
McGuire broke the tie in the top of the third, an inning that started with the Gaels walking Borders and hitting
Cadi Oliver with a pitch. McGuire delivered with two outs, doubling to center and scoring them both to put JSU up for good.
The freshman duo of Woodruff and Bullock added a pair of runs to the lead in the fifth, and then Woodruff homered in the seventh to spark a six-run inning. Junior
Ella Denes reached on an error that scored a third run and set up Borders for her second homer of the day.
The three-run shot to center made it 12-1 JSU and pushed her past Oleman into a tie for fifth with Allie Barker for fifth on the school's career home run list. Her six RBI on Friday runs her career total to 136, three away from Oleman in third on that career list.
Green (5-1) struck out seven in six innings in the circle, holding Iona to a run on four hits. Sophomore
Brooke Carvey tossed a perfect seventh inning to finish the game for the Gamecocks.
Jessica Harkness suffered the loss for Iona after surrendering eight runs on 13 hits in just over six innings of work. She struck out two and walked four before being chased to make room in the circle for Sarah McMahon. She got the final two outs but not before allowing the final four runs to score.
The Gamecocks will conclude play in the event on Saturday, when they face Wright State again at 10 a.m. CT before taking on host Charleston Southern at 12 p.m. CT.
