NASHVILLE – A pair of dominant performances in the circle and another big day from Leila Chambers propelled the Jacksonville State softball team to a pair of wins at Belmont on Saturday.
 
The Gamecocks (28-9, 7-1 OVC) extended their win streak to nine games with the doubleheader sweep of the Bruins (27-11, 3-5 OVC), taking game one 8-0 and capping the sweep with a 6-1 win in the nightcap. The wins also helped JSU keep pace with Eastern Illinois atop the Ohio Valley Conference standings.
 
Junior Whitney Gillespie shut out the Belmont offense in the opening game, the first time the Bruins have been held scoreless in 2017, and then senior Taylor West held them to just one run in the finale. Belmont didn't record an extra base hit in either game off of JSU pitching.
 
At the plate, junior Leila Chambers continued her red-hot start to the conference season, going a combined 5-for-6 on the day with a homer, two doubles and four RBI. This comes after the Molena, Ga., native went 4-for-6 against Murray State last week to earn OVC Player of the Week honors. She is now 13-for-20 (.650) with three doubles, three home runs and 12 RBI in league play this season.
 
In the opener, the Gamecocks got single runs in the second, third and fifth innings and then used a five-run seventh to break the game open. Meanwhile, Gillespie kept working around every threat Belmont tried to mount.
 
The scoring started with Chambers' RBI double in the second that scored Stephanie Lewis after her double started the rally.
 
Jamie McGuire put the next two runs on the board for JSU, starting with an RBI single to left that drove in Anna Chisolm from second and gave the Gamecocks a 2-0 third-inning lead. McGuire's eighth homer of the year followed in the fifth inning, a laser over the wall in left put the Gamecocks up 3-0.
 
JSU gave Gillespie five more insurance runs in the seventh, thanks to back-to-back RBI doubles from Lewis and Taylor Sloan and a run-scoring single by Hayley Sims that staked the JSU ace to a 6-0 lead. Chambers continued her hot hitting in OVC play with a two-run homer, her third in the last week, to put an 8-0 advantage on the scoreboard.
 
Gillespie (13-3) worked around a pesky Bruins batting order to notch her 13th complete game in 17 starts this season. Belmont, who entered the day second in the OVC in hitting with a .317 average, put at least one runner on in all but one inning and even loaded them in the seventh, couldn't scratch a run across.
 
The Pelham native allowed five hits, all singles, in her fifth shutout of the year. She struck out seven and had to work around five walks to win the game.
 
Bruins starter Lexi Rouse (7-4) suffered the loss in the circle, surrendering three runs on five hits in 4.2 innings. Ashley Johnson tossed the final 2.1 innings, allowing five runs on five hits.
 
The Bruins held their ace for the second game of the twinbill, but the Gamecocks were able to get to Brooklin Lee early. JSU plated one run in the second after three singles right back up the middle broke the scoreless tie. Sloan, Chambers and Emily Woodruff recorded the three hits that gave the Gamecocks the early 1-0 lead.
 
In the third, an infield single from Cadi Oliver set up an RBI double from Alexus Jimmerson, who then scored on Sloan's second single to center in the game and put the Gamecocks up 3-0.
 
Belmont plated a run in the home half of the third, its first of the day off of JSU pitching, but the Gamecocks got two in the top of the fourth to push its lead to 5-1. The inning started with Chambers' second hit of the game, a single to left, and a Chisolm infield single. They both scored on a Belmont throwing error after an Oliver bunt.
 
Chambers kept her big day going in the fifth, driving her third hit of the game and second double of the day into right center. The line drive drove in Sloan and made it a 6-1 JSU game.
 
West (11-4) kept the Bruin bats at bay, allowing just one run on six hits in her complete game. She struck out six and walked a pair in besting Lee (12-5). She was tagged with the loss after surrendering six runs on nine hits in 4.1 innings in the circle.
 
JSU will continue its two-day trip to Music City on Sunday, when the Gamecocks play a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Tennessee State.