JACKSONVILLE, Ala. — The Jacksonville State softball team remained hot on Friday, when the Gamecocks extended its season-long winning streak to six with a doubleheader sweep of Eastern Illinois, 4-0 and 13-1.
 
The pitching duo of Whitney Gillespie and Casey Akenberger went 12 innings, allowed eight hits, issued no walks and struck out 11 while only surrendering one run. The performance helped Jacksonville State remain perfect in Ohio Valley Conference play.
 
In game one for Jacksonville State (15-13, 5-0 OVC), Gillespie got the started in the circle and the sophomore responded by tossing her first career shutout. The Pelham, Ala., native threw 96 pitches to 26 Eastern Illinois batters and surrendered only five hits while striking out seven and not issuing a walk. With the win, Gillespie pushed her season record to 3-1 and lowered her season ERA to 1.17.
 
Gillespie was backed in the circle by a three-run first inning courtesy of Emily Church and Jamie McGuire, who hit two-run and solo home runs, respectively. Gillespie helped herself when she hit a solo homer in the third inning to extend the Gamecocks' lead to four runs, which stood the duration of the game.
 
Stephanie Lewis, Jordan Bullock and Emily Woodruff also were in the hit column, and Church finished the first game a perfect 2-for-2 in the batters box.
 
For Eastern Illinois (9-19, 3-2), Kayla Bear, Haylee Beck, Jennifer Ames all had one hit while April Markowski had two.
 
During game two, Akenberger started for Jacksonville State and was perfect through 3.2 innings before Katie Watson hit a bloop-single that popped out of the glove of a diving Stephanie Lewis in left field. The only other blemish on the senior's stat line was a fifth inning homer off the bat of April Markowski. Ashlynne Paul had a two-out double before Akenberger got Jennette Isaac swinging to end the game.
 
Akenberger tossed 53 pitches to 18 Panther batters over five innings and struck out five before the game ended due to the mercy rule.
 
The Jacksonville State offense wasted little time backing Akenberger. The Gamecocks sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning. They scored six runs on five hits and left two on base. JSU did the same in the second, when it sent 10 batters to the plate and scored seven runs on six hits. The second inning was highlighted by 3-run home runs from Hayley Sims and Ella Denes.
 
Denes, Church and McGuire each had two hits, while Denes drove in a team-high five runs. Lewis, Gillespie, Sims, Bullock and Woodruff each finished with one hit.
 
Jacksonville State returns to University Field Saturday for a doubleheader against SIUE. The first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. Admission is free for all JSU students and fans ages 18 and under.