Box Score OXFORD – Faith Sims tossed a two-hit shutout to lift the Jacksonville State softball team to a 3-0 win over Austin Peay on Thursday in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament at Choccolocco Park.
 
Sims held the second-seeded Governors to two singles in her 20th complete game and fourth shutout of the season. The third-seeded Gamecocks (31-23) advance to the winner's bracket final on Friday at 3 p.m. against either No. 1 Eastern Kentucky or No. 5 SIUE.
 


JSU got four of its five hits in the game in the first two innings and made them count. The Governors (37-16) started their No. 2 starter Kelly Mardones but was forced to turn to OVC Pitcher of the Year Morgan Rackel in the second inning after the Gamecocks chased the starter from the circle after giving up three runs.
 
Taylor Beashears had two of JSU's five hits, including a first-inning homer that set the tone for the rest of the game. The two-out solo homer from the junior transfer from Wallace State Community College dropped just over the wall down the left field line. Her team-high eighth long ball of the season put JSU up 1-0.
 
They got two more on back-to-back two-out singles from a pair of seniors in the second. Emily Woodruff ripped a 3-2 pitch back up the middle to score Leila Chambers and then Caitlyn Sapp snuck one through the left side to plate Jada Terry from second and give JSU a 3-0 advantage.
 
Those three runs would be all Sims would need. She struck out seven Austin Peay batters and walked three to improve to 20-9 on the season. It was her third appearance against the Governors this season after she earned a win and a save in a doubleheader sweep in Clarksville on April 14.
 
Mardones (13-5) suffered the loss after allowing all three runs on three hits and a walk while recording just five outs. Rackel gave up just two hits and struck out three in her 5 and 1/3 innings of relief work.