JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State softball team kept bouncing back against Winthrop on Tuesday before eventually pulling off a 5-3 win at University Field.
 
The Eagles (11-13) jumped on the Gamecocks (15-7) twice early on, but JSU was able to rally back both times before finally taking the lead for good in the fifth inning. Once the lead was on JSU's side of the board, junior Whitney Gillespie was brilliant in shutting down the Winthrop bats don the stretch.
 
Winthrop grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first and a 3-1 lead in the second, only to watch the Gamecocks battle back and tie the game in both instances. Anna Chisolm answered the first inning call with her speed, legging out a double and then stealing third and scoring on an overthrow by the catcher.
 
After the Eagles got two more on JSU starter Taylor West in the second, junior Taylor Rogers cut that deficit in half with her first collegiate homer. The Sand Rock native's solo blast cleared the wall in left center and brought her team within a run again.
 
Taylor Sloan got her first of two RBI in the game in the third to tie the game at 3-3, another run that came as a result of Chisolm's speed. After a bunt single started the inning and a Cadi Oliver bunt moved the sophomore to second, a wild pitch put her on third and set up Sloan's RBI line drive single to right.
 
The Gamecocks finally grabbed the lead in the fifth on Jamie McGuire's double to left that score pinch runner Torre Roberts, and they tacked on an insurance run in the sixth on a Sloan sac fly to right that drove in Emily Woodruff.
 
While the JSU bats were putting runs on the board, Gillespie (6-3) was keeping the Eagles off of the bases to earn the win in relief. The Pelham native tossed the final five innings, allowing just two hits and striking out seven without allowing a run. West gave up three runs, only one earned, in two innings in the circle.
 
Winthrop's Keleigh Romine started the game but didn't last long after a Sloan line drive ricocheted off her foot and into center field. Sabrina Shroades (2-1) entered with one out in the first and allowed three runs on six hits in 3 2/3 innings of relief. Kiley Majette tossed the final two frames and allowed one run on one hit.
 
Sloan was 2-for-3 and Chisolm 2-for-4 to lead the JSU offensive attack, while Sloan's two RBI also led the team. Chisolm and McGuire doubled, while Rogers homered in the win.
 
JSU will be back at home on Wednesday at 4 p.m. against Western Kentucky in a single game at University Field.