EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Jacksonville State softball team's 2015 season came to an end in an 8-0 loss to Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Saturday morning in an elimination game in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
 
The No. 1 seed and host Cougars (42-15) scored seven two-out runs to grab control of the game and held the Gamecocks (38-17) off the scoreboard for the first time since Feb. 21, a streak of 40 games.
 
SIUE ace Hayley Chambers held JSU to two hits in six innings and struck out five to improve to 25-7 on the season. Sophomore Taylor West (13-5) suffered the loss after allowing seven runs, only three earned, on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings of work. Freshman Whitney Gillespie tossed the final 1 2/3 innings for JSU, allowing just one run on three hits.
 
Freshman Emily Woodruff and senior Sara Borders recorded JSU's hits in the loss. Borders reached base three times, extending her streak of consecutive games reached base to 40. Her impressive career at JSU ends with her tied for the longest active such streak in the nation with Vicky Galasso of Idaho State. She and fellow seniors Savannah Sloan and Melanie Steer saw their careers come to a close in the loss.
 
The Cougars struck early, getting a two-out bloop single to center from Alex McDavid that gave them a 1-0 lead after the first inning. A leadoff walk in the third was costly for the Gamecocks, who gave up a two-out RBI single to Rachel Keller that made it a 2-0 game.
 
The Cougars' two-out magic continued in the fourth, when they got four runs after the second out was recorded. Rebecca Gray singled in the first run and a Cadi Oliver error extended the inning and set up a two-run homer from McDavid that made it a 7-0 SIUE lead. The Cougars got a sac fly in the sixth to end it.