RICHMOND, Ky. – The Jacksonville State softball team continued its winning ways on Sunday, remaining unbeaten in Ohio Valley Conference Play with a 13-2 win over Eastern Kentucky.
 
One day after the Gamecocks (34-14, 23-0 OVC) clinched the 2016 OVC regular season title in a pitchers' duel, they broke out the bats against the second-place Colonels (33-14, 15-7 OVC). JSU hit three home runs, two by Whitney Gillespie, and racked up a dozen hits in the rout.
 
Junior Taylor West (12-5) gave up a pair of first-inning runs but then settled in to shut down the EKU offense. She allowed two runs on six hits but gave up just four hits after the first inning to earn the win for the seventh-straight start, a stretch that has seen her ERA drop from 4.09 to 2.87.
 
She got plenty of support on Sunday and it didn't take long after EKU got on eth board in the first. JSU tied it in the top of the second on an Emily Woodruff two-run double and then took a 4-2 lead on an Ella Denes homer just two pitches later.
 
Gillespie led off the fourth with a solo shot and a Jordan Bullock two-run double later in the inning made it a 7-2 game in JSU's favor. Gillespie's second long ball of eth day came in the fifth on a two-out shot to left that put JSU comfortably in front, 8-2. The Gamecocks added five in the seventh to blow it open.
 
Gillespie went 3-for-3 with three RBI in the win and scored four runs. Denes and Woodruff each added two hits, while Bullock drove in a pair of runs.
 
Alex Sallberg (9-6) suffered the loss for the Colonels after allowing 10 runs on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings of work. Murphy McRoberts tossed 1 2/3 inning, surrendering three runs on two hits in the process.
 
The win is JSU's 27th in a row in OVC play, the longest regular-season conference win streak in the country, while the Gamecocks' 23 league wins are the most in Division I softball this season.
 
The Gamecocks return home to wrap up the regular season with a three-game series against Belmont that starts on Saturday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at University Field. The series will conclude with a 1 p.m. single game on Sunday, which will also be Senior Day for the Gamecocks, when Denes and Casey Akenberger will be honored in a pregame ceremony.