JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – The Jacksonville State softball team capped a great start to its Spring Break on Sunday, when the Gamecocks used an 8-3 win to finish the series sweep of Tennessee Tech at University Field.
 
After winning both games of a doubleheader with the Golden Eagles (8-18, 0-3 Ohio Valley Conference) on Saturday, the Gamecocks (12-13, 3-0 OVC) took the third game of the weekend series against the preseason OVC favorites behind another strong pitching performance by Whitney Gillespie and a six-run fifth inning.
 
Gillespie's second win in three games in the series, one that also saw her save the second game on Saturday, capped a weekend that resulted in a 2-0 record, a 1.75 earned run average and 16 strikeouts in 16 innings.
 
At the plate, sophomore Emily Woodruff went 2-or-3 with one of JSU's five doubles to wrap up an opening weekend in OVC play that saw her go 5-for-7 (.714) with a double, triple and a homer.
 
Tennessee Tech got on the scoreboard first when Alyssa Richards singled home Jessie Lowery in the top of the first. However, Gillespie settled down to retire the next nine Golden Eagle batters, including striking out five straight at one point.
 
During that stretch, the Gamecocks started to come alive when Gillespie scored on a fielding error by TTU off the bat of Jordan Bullock. The Gamecocks took the lead, for good, in the bottom of the third inning when Gillespie worked a bases loaded walk and scored Stephanie Lewis from third.
 
Over the next four innings, Gillespie was able to set a career high in strikeouts, as the 5-foot-7 sophomore from Pelham finished with eight strikeouts on the afternoon. She matched her previous high, 7, less than 24 hours ago during game one of the series and earlier in the week against UAB.
 
The six-run fifth inning by Jacksonville State saw 11 Gamecock batters come to the plate and seven of them collect hits, including RBI singles by Taylor Sloan and Ella Denes. Freshman Hayley Sims had an RBI double as did Jamie McGuire, who took a throw off the face while standing on second but re-entered the game at catcher before the start of the top of the sixth.
 
Tennessee Tech pushed across runs in the sixth and seventh, but Gillespie finished off the Golden Eagles after 115 pitches and brought her ERA to 2.00 on 28.0 innings thus far this season.
On the afternoon, Denes, Lewis, Church, McGuire and Emily Woodruff all finished with two hits. Sloan, Gillespie and Sims had one hit each.
 
For Tennessee Tech, Lowery, Cortney Fry and Richards each had two hits for the Golden Eagles. Gabby Perez, Sabrie Neeb and Olivia Bennett each recorded on hit. 
 
Jacksonville State takes a break from conference play to travel to Montgomery to face Alabama State on Wednesday. JSU will resume OVC play when Eastern Illinois visits University Field on Friday for a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Admission is free for all JSU students and fans ages 18 and under.