JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State softball team swept a doubleheader from Murray State on Friday and took over first place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings in the process.
The Racers (21-22, 11-5 OVC) entered the day in sole possession of first but watched the Gamecocks (30-12, 14-4 OVC) take over that spot with a 2-0 win in the first game and a 9-4 win in the nightcap.
Senior
Amber Jones drove in the only two runs scored in the first game and then went 4-for-4 with a double, a home run and three RBI in the nightcap to lead the Gamecocks at the plate. The Attalla, Ala., native went 5-for-6 on the day with five total RBI.
Faith Sims tossed a two-hit shutout to get the day started and then earned a three-inning save in the finale to lead the way in the circle. The Cordova, Ala., native allowed just two hits in her 10 innings of work and struck out nine racer batters.
In the first game, Sims and Murray State starter Hannah James dueled throughout the game. The only blemish on either pitching line came in the fourth, when Jones laced a bases-loaded single to right center to break a scoreless tie and put JSU up 2-0.
That would be all Sims would need. She tossed her ninth shutout and 17thcomplete game in just 23 starts this season, striking out eight MSU batters to improve to 18-4 on the season.
James (11-10) suffered the loss, despite holding JSU to two runs on five hits in six frames. She walked three and struck out five.
Five JSU batters scattered its five hits, all singles, while Jones,
Lex Hull and
Taylor Beshears each reached twice via a walk and a base hit.
The Racers jumped on the Gamecocks in the second game, scoring two in the top of the first inning, one that saw two separate rain delays before finally ending nearly an hour after it started.
MSU only recorded one hit in the inning, an RBI single from Lillie Goetz that put the Racers up 1-0. Abby Shoulders drew a bases loaded walk to drive in the other run. They added a run in the second on Goetz' triple to right and put the Gamecocks in an early 3-0 hole.
JSU started nipping away, scoring one on Jones' RBI single in the second and another in the third on an
Anna Chisolm sac fly.
After cutting the deficit to one, the Gamecocks were ready to take over in the fourth. The tying run came on a
Sidney Wagnon grounder that drove in pinch runner
Savannah Sudduth, and then Beshears lined a two-run, bases-loaded single to right to put the Gamecocks on top 5-3.
Murray got one back in the fifth but watched the Gamecocks answer on a Wagnon RBI double in the home half of the same inning. JSU broke the game open in the sixth, starting with Hull's RBI double and wrapping up on a mammoth two-run homer from Jones to left field.
Sophomore
Reagan Watkins (2-0) earned the win for JSU, tossing four innings of relief work and limiting the Racers to a run on two hits before making way for Sims in the fifth. She gave up an unearned run on an error, but didn't allow a hit in the three innings of relief work. She picked up her fifth save of the season.
Jones' 4-for-4 game led the JSU offensive attack, while
Karsen Mosley and Beshears each added two hits in the game.
The Gamecocks wrap up the conference schedule next weekend, when they host a Friday twinbill vs. UT Martin and a Sunday doubleheader with Southeast Missouri. Both will start at 1 p.m. at University Field and will be broadcast ion ESPN+.
