AUBURN – An historic season for a celebrated Jacksonville State softball team came to an end on Sunday in the NCAA Auburn Regional Championship Game.
The Gamecocks (43-17) advanced to their third regional title game in nine years but fell to No. 4 Auburn, 14-2, in five innings. The Tigers (52-9) advance to the Super Regional next week, when they will host Arizona, the winner of the Knoxville Regional championship.
Jax State tied the 2006 and 2009 teams for the second most wins in a season and made history throughout its unprecedented run through the Ohio Valley Conference slate. The Gamecocks went 26-0 in OVC play to become the second team to go through the OVC record unbeaten and the first since the 1994 Tennessee Tech team went 17-0.
They won a school-record 20 games in a row at one point and their regular season run also extended their winning streak in OVC games to 30, tied with Fresno State for the longest active conference win streak in the country.
Head Coach
Jana McGinnis was named the OVC Coach of the Year a record-tying fifth time, while
Ella Denes claimed Player of the Year and
Whitney Gillespie Pitcher of the Year honors.
But Sunday was the host and No. 4 national seed's day. Auburn rattled off 12 hits and used a six-run third inning to take control of the game and advance to the Super Regionals for the second-straight year.
Auburn chased JSU ace
Whitney Gillespie from the circle after a four-run first that saw just one earned run score and three runs after a tag that would've been the third out at first wasn't ruled a tag. The sophomore from Pelham, Ala., capped her season by suffering the loss but finishes with a 16-4 record and a 1.13 ERA, the third-best in a season in school history.
At the plate,
Stephanie Lewis belted a solo homer and
Jamie McGuire singled home a run. Senior
Ella Denes was 1-for-3 and reached twice in the game, running her career hits total to 225, sixth all time at JSU. She also caps her career ninth in career homers with 26 and sixth with 118 RBI.
Sophomore
Jordan Bullock was 1-for-2 and capped the regional by going 6-for-14 to lead the Gamecock offense.
Jacksonville State was the home team on the Tigers' home field in the game, but that gave Auburn the first opportunity at the plate. The Tigers took advantage of the opportunity, a pair of JSU errors and a fortunate break on the base paths to take an early lead.
After one run crossed, a high throw on a chopper to short pulled
Hayley Sims off of her bag at first, but Jade Rhodes collided with Sims and never touched the bag. Nonetheless, she was called safe to allow another run to cross and keep the inning alive for a Madi Gipson two-run single that made it a 4-0 Auburn advantage.
The Tigers got another one in the second to make it a 5-0 game before JSU got on the board with Lewis' solo homer, but Auburn opened it up in the third.
A one-out hustle double by Rhodes got things started, and a bases loaded walk to Jenna Abbott pushed the first run of the inning across. The big blow was a Tiffany Howard grand slam that made it a 10-1 game. Auburn added one more in the third and three in the fourth.
