BIRMINGHAM – Samford scored two early runs and held off the Jacksonville State softball team inning-by-inning to claim the series with a 7-4 win on Sunday.
The Bulldogs (11-7) got a pair in the first and then answered several Gamecocks (8-10) threats throughout the day to notch their second win over JSU since 2007 and the second in the three-game weekend series.
The Bulldogs got a pair of runs in the first inning, using a Megan Dowdy single to left to put a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard.
JSU got one back in the second on a chopper to short by
Jordan Bullock that plated
Jamie McGuire from third. McGuire started the inning with a single and moved to third on a double by
Stephanie Lewis.
Samford answered in the home half of the second, getting two-out double by Callie Brister that rattled around the left field corner and stretch the lead back to two at 3-1. The Bulldogs made it a 5-1 game in the fourth an another two-out hit, this one a two-run homer to left by Brister.
Jax State made a move in the top of the fifth, first on a solo homer from
Emily Woodruff that cleared the net extended above the left field wall and cut Samford's lead to 5-2.
Ella Denes and
Taylor Sloan singled and doubled, respectively, to set up a two-run bloop single to center by
Emily Church that cut the deficit to 5-4.
Samford had another answer getting an RBI double from Dowdy and an RBI single from Lexi Higgins that stretched its lead to 7-4.
JSU mounted another two-threat threat in the sixth but got nothing out of it.
Hayley Sims singled, Woodruff walked and
Ella Denes singled with two down to laod the bases for Sloan, whose comebacker was snagged by Molly Hanson in the circle to get out of the inning.
Denes, Sloan, McGuire and Lewis each had two hits in the loss, while
Faith Sims (1-4) suffered the loss in the circle. She allowed five runs on eight hits through four innings of work.
Hanson (6-3) earned the win with a complete game that saw her surrender four runs on 11 hits in seven frames.
The Gamecocks return to action Tuesday, when they host Kennesaw State at 4 p.m. at University Field. Admission is free for JSU students and all fans ages 18 and under.
