JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State softball team used good pitching and timely hitting to sweep a key Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader from Murray State on Saturday at University Field.
Senior
Sara Borders homered twice and sophomore
Taylor West held the Racers (25-16, 12-7 OVC) at bay in an 8-2 win in game one, while
Stephanie Lewis went 3-for-3 in a 5-2 win by the Gamecocks (28-14, 11-5 OVC) in the finale.
Lewis and Borders each had four hits and two walks on the day, while junior
Ella Denes had two hits and four walks in the doubleheader that saw JSU jump MSU in the league standings.
West tossed a complete game to win the opener and came in to pitch the seventh after six stellar innings from
Logan Green in the nightcap to get her first save.
In the first game, Borders went 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI to pace the Gamecocks, while
Ella Denes drove in a pair and walked once in a 1-for-2 game. Borders' third career two-home run game ran her career total to 42, second most in school history to Daniela Pappano's school record 53 from 2004-07.
In that opening game, Borders got the Gamecocks on the board and in the hit column in one fourth inning swing. She lined CheyAnne Gaskey's 0-2 pitch just inside the right field foul pole and off the roof beyond the right field wall to make it 1-0 in JSU's favor.
The Racers got the run back in the top of the fifth on a two-out infield single by Mo Ramsey that drove in Cayla Levins from third.
The Gamecocks reclaimed the lead in the home half of the fifth, a three-run frame that saw JSU record just one hit. A leadoff walk to
Jordan Bullock and an error on shortstop Alexa Becker, who dropped an
Emily Woodruff pop up while looking into a misting rain, set JSU up.
Ella Denes moved the runners over, and
Savannah Sloan lifted a sac fly to left that plated Bullock and made it a 2-1 game. Borders followed with her second homer of the game, an opposite field fly ball that carried over the wall in left and gave JSU a 4-1 lead.
JSU broke it open in the sixth, starting with an RBI single through the right side from Bullock, who was followed by Denes' two-run single in the same spot. Borders drove in the final run with a line drive single to right that made it an 8-1 JSU lead.
The Racers got one in the seventh on a JSU error, but it wouldn't be enough in dropping the first game of the twinbill.
West (9-4) earned the win with a complete game gem that saw her hold the Racers to two runs, only one earned, on eight hits. She struck out three and walked two.
Gaskey (13-8) suffered the loss in the circle after allowing four runs, just one earned, on three hits and two walks. Haven Campbell recorded just two outs in relief but surrendered four runs on four hits and two walks in the process. Mason Robinson got the final out of the game to stop the bleeding.
Lewis led the Gamecock offense in the nightcap, tying her career high for hits in a game with three in her 3-for-3, three-RBI showing. She also drew a walk.
JSU wasted little time getting on the board in game two, thanks to a pair of walks from starter Robinson to Denes and Borders. Lewis delivered the lone hit of the inning, a two-out drive up the middle that plated both runners and gave JSU a 2-0 lead.
JSU starter Green didn't allow a hit until to top of the fourth, when Jessica Twaddle's leadoff single broke up the JSU sophomore's run at a no-hitter. The Gamecocks got another two-out run in the home half of the fourth on
Savannah Sloan's double to right center that scored Denes after her third walk of the game one batter earlier.
Despite putting the leadoff batter on base in each of the first five innings, it took until the fifth for the Racers to get a run across. They loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fifth, but only got one run on a Twaddle grounder that also led to Mallory Young running out of the inning and getting thrown out at the plate to end the threat.
Murray State didn't get the leadoff man aboard in the sixth but still added a run. Shelbey Miller's one-out double set up an RBI single from Maggie Glass that cut JSU's lead to one at 3-2.
A Murray error and Lewis' third hit of the game scored two more and gave the Gamecocks a 5-2 lead. Heading into the final inning.
JSU turned to West to close the game and she did just that, working around a leadoff single from Mallory Young to earn her first save of the season. Green (11-4) earned the win by limiting the OVC's top offense coming in to two runs n seven hits in six innings.
Robinson (10-5) was tagged with the loss after surrendering all five runs, four earned, on eight hits and seven walks in 5 1/3 innings in the circle. Mallory Young had two hits to lead the Racer offense.
The Gamecocks will wrap up the weekend on Sunday with a doubleheader against Austin Peay at 1 p.m. at University Field.
