KENNESAW, Ga. – The Jacksonville State softball team split a non-conference doubleheader at Kennesaw State on Saturday, routing the Owls in the opener before falling a run short in the nightcap.
The Gamecocks (17-8) jumped on the Owls (22-7) in the first game and never looked back before grabbing a 15-5 win in just six innings. In the second game, a four-run KSU second inning proved too much for JSU to overcome in a 4-3 loss.
Senior
Stephanie Lewis was red hot for the Gamecocks at the plate on Saturday, going 4-for-6 with a double and three RBI, while junior
Emily Woodruff also had four hits in her seven at bats. Sophomore
Anna Snider homered in her 2-for-3 afternoon in the batters box.
In the first game of the day, the Gamecocks put three runs on the board in the top of the first and led the entire game. The three-run inning came compliments of three JSU hits, RBI singles by
Alexus Jimmerson and
Taylor Sloan and an RBI double by Lewis.
The Owls got two runs in the home half off of starter
Whitney Gillespie to cut the lead to one, but a six-run third broke the game open. Five JSU hits and a pair of KSU errors fueled the big inning for the Gamecocks, one that was highlighted by a two-run single by Woodruff. Lewis, Sloan and
Taylor Rogers also drove in runs in the inning.
Two more crossed in the fourth on Sloan's two-run double, her third and fourth RBI of the game, and one run scored on a fifth-inning sac fly by Jimmerson. Snider's two-run blast was the biggest blow in a three-run sixth for JSU that sealed the mercy-rule win.
Gillespie (8-3) had to battle a potent KSU lineup to grab the win for JSU. She allowed five runs on seven hits in six innings of work that also saw her strike out nine and walk five.
The Owls' Logan Viers (7-3) was tagged with the loss after surrendering nine runs on eight hits in just three frames. She walked one and struck out three.
In the finale of the twinbill, The Owls belted two second-inning homers to jump on the Gamecocks early and then held off a late JSU rally attempt. Curtney Sutter and Jessie Mullen each hit balls out of the yard off of JSU starter
Taylor West in the frame.
Those would be the only runs the Owls would muster after relief pitcher
Faith Sims tossed four shutout innings to give the JSU offense a chance to mount a comeback.
KSU pitcher Alley Cutting (11-3) kept JSU off of the board until the sixth, when the Gamecocks got three runs on a Lewis RBI single and a two-run error that cut their deficit to just a run.
That would be all Cutting would allow in the win, holding JSU to three runs, only one earned, on four hits in seven innings. She struck out nine Gamecocks in the complete game.
West (7-3) took the loss after allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits in two innings. Sims' four innings saw five KSU hits and two strikeouts.
The Gamecocks head into Spring Break, when they will prepare for conference play next weekend. The midweek will feature a single game at Alabama A&M on Wednesday at 2 p.m. before opening Ohio Valley Conference action Saturday at University Field with a 1 p.m. doubleheader vs. UT Martin. Southeast Missouri will then visit for a Sunday twinbill, also at 1 p.m.
