NASHVILLE – The Jacksonville State softball team earned a 5-3 win and then dropped a 4-3 decision on Saturday at Belmont, splitting a doubleheader with the Bruins in the Music City.
 
The Gamecocks (31-15, 14-6 Ohio Valley Conference) got a solo home run from Sara Borders and a grand slam from Cadi Oliver to boost them to the win in game one but left 10 runners on in game two before falling to the Bruins (11-30, 6-14 OVC).
 
Junior Ella Denes went 4-for-8 with a pair of doubles in the twinbill, while freshman Emily Woodruff and sophomore Taylor Sloan each went 3-for-6. Oliver led the team with four RBI, all coming on her big swing in the first game.
 
In that opening game, Belmont scored first with an RBI single from Heather Turner that gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead in the second inning. That stood until the top of the fourth, when Borders led off with a solo blast to center, her 15th of the year and the 46th of her career. It was her sixth home run in her last six games.
 
The Gamecocks grabbed control of the game on the fifth, an inning that started with a Denes double, which was followed by walks to Borders and Stephanie Lewis. Oliver cleared the bases with her grand slam, a shot to left center that gave JSU a 5-1 advantage.
 
The Bruins got two back in the home half of the fifth but couldn't get any closer.
 
Sophomore Taylor West (10-4) earned the win by holding the Bruins to three runs on six hits in four innings of work. She walked two and struck out two before giving way to freshman Whitney Gillespie, who earned her fourth save of the year. Gillespie held the Bruins to just one hit in three scoreless innings of relief.
 
Carolyn Snodgress (5-8) suffered the loss, allowing five runs on eight hits and four walks in seven frames.
 
In the nightcap, the Bruins struck first again, getting a run on a first-inning RBI triple by Kay Hollingsworth, but an RBI double from Taylor Sloan in the JSU second tied the game.
 
Belmont got an unearned run in the third to regain the lead and then used a two-run homer from Jordan Daly in the fourth to build a 4-1 lead.
 
The Gamecocks got one back in the fifth on a Lewis sac fly and another in the sixth on Woodruff's RBI single, but left two one in the seventh still trailing by one.
 
Taylor Moon (4-15) was credited with the win for Belmont after limiting the Gamecocks to two runs on five hits and three walks in five innings. Katie Clancy allowed an unearned run on three hits in two innings of relief to grab her first save of the year.
 
Sophomore Logan Green (12-5) took the loss after surrendering four runs, three earned, on five hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings of work. Gillespie tossed the final 1 2/3 innings, retiring all five batters she faced.
 
The Gamecocks and Bruins will play the rubber game of the three-game series on Sunday at 12 p.m., JSU's final road game of the 2015 regular season.