PHOTO GALLERY

OXFORD – Jacksonville State needed a dramatic finish and it got one at Choccolocco Park on Friday morning in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
 
A two-run homer from Jamie McGuire in the sixth tied the game with SIU-Edwardsville and a game-ending triple from Whitney Gillespie advanced the top-seeded Gamecocks (39-14) in the winner's bracket. They will face No. 3 seed Eastern Kentucky at 5 p.m. on Friday to see who advances to the championship game without a loss in the double-elimination event.
 
While McGuire and Gillespie provided the fireworks at the plate, junior Taylor West was the hero in the circle. The Second-Team All-OVC pick from nearby Anniston came on in relief of Gillespie in the fifth and held the fourth-seeded Cougars hitless through four shutout innings.
 
The Gamecocks lived dangerously and it cost them in the top of the fourth. A leadoff single by Kelsey Hansen and a fielding error put runners at second and third with no outs, and the Cougars used a grounder and a squeeze bunt to take a 2-0 lead.
 
JSU struggled to get good swings off of SIUE starter Baylee Douglass until the bottom of the sixth. Anna Chisolm roped a double off the center field wall to start the inning and McGuire lined an 0-2 pitch over the wall in center to tie the game.
 
West entered the game in the fifth and held the Cougars in check to give her offense a chance to win it. A pair of two-out walks in the bottom of the seventh put the potential winning run in scoring position, but Chisolm missed on her cut at Ashley Koziol's 3-2 pitch to send the game into extra innings.
 
West worked around a leadoff hit by pitch in the eighth and set the stage for the dramatic finish.