MURRAY, Ky. –
Taylor Beshears powered the Gamecock offense and
Alexus Jimmerson tossed a gem to lead the Jacksonville State softball team to a sweep of Murray State on Friday.
The Gamecocks (17-16, 5-1 Ohio Valley Conference) dominated the Racers (9-22, 0-4 OVC) in both games, powering their way to a 9-3 win in the opener and then claiming a 5-0 shutout in the second game.
Jimmerson did it all for the Gamecocks in the twinbill. The sophomore from Jackson, Tenn., not only tossed a two-hit shutout in the second game of the day, she also went 4-for-8 with a double and four RBI at the plate.
On the day, Beshears went 5-for-8 with a homer and five RBI to pace a JSU offense that racked up 21 hits in the doubleheader. The junior from Trussville, Ala., was 3-for-4 with four RBI in the first game before driving in one in a 2-for-4 showing in the nightcap.
She got everything started in the first game and did so right away, belting a two-run homer to right in the top of the first that set the tone for the rest of the day. The Gamecocks would score two runs in each of the first three innings to build an early 6-0 lead and they would never look back.
Afetr Beshears' first-inning homer started the scoring, an RBI single from
Anna Chisolm and an RBI ground out from Jimmerson put the two second-inning runs on the board. A
Ryann Luna single and a fielder's choice off of
Emily Woodruff's bat plated the two runs in the third.
The Racers got two runs off of JSU starter
Faith Sims in the fourth, but that Gamecocks answered with three in the fifth to pull away.
Caitlyn Sapp singled in
Hannahstaysia Weaver and then scored with
Anna Chisolm on Beshears' two-run single that ended the JSU scoring.
Beshears' three hits led the JSU offense, while Luna, Chisolm and
Lex Hull each had two hits.
Sims (11-7) won her fifth-straight decision for the Gamecocks, tossing her third-straight complete game in the process. The junior from Cordova, Ala., allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits while striking out five in the win.
Haven Campbell (6-8) started the game for MSU but didn't last long. She was tagged with the loss after being tagged for four runs on five hits and a walk in just 1 and 1/3 innings.
It was all Jimmerson (4-3) in the finale of the day. She went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI at the plate while shutting down the Racers from the circle. That pitching performance saw her face just 24 batters in seven innings and need just 75 pitches to dispose of the Racers.
She surrendered just two hits in seven scoreless innings of work in the circle and provided herself plenty of offense to work with. Her three RBI came in the seventh on a bases-loaded double that put the game away.
Chisolm and Beshears had already staked her to a 2-0 lead in the third, thanks to Chisolm's RBI triple and Beshears' RBI single.
All of JSU's production came from the first four spots in the order, which went a combined 8-for-15. Sapp was 2-for-4, Chisolm 1-for-3 and Beshears 2-for-4to go along with Jimmerson's 3-for-4 effort.
Amber Van Duyse (1-6) suffered the loss for the Racers after giving up three runs, one earned, on six hits in 6 and 1.3 innings.
The Gamecocks will play at Samford on Tuesday at 5 p.m. before returning to OVC play on Saturday and Sunday, when they will host Belmont and Tennessee State, respectively. The Belmont and TSU games will be played at Choccolocco Park in Oxford due to the damage the tornado caused to University Field and on JSU's campus and will both begin at 1 p.m.
