JACKSONVILLE –
Nicole Rodriguez struck out 10 batters in a complete-game shutout that helped the Jacksonville State softball team salvage a twinbill split with Southern Miss on Sunday at University Field.
After falling 8-2 in the opening game of the day, the Gamecocks got three early runs and cruised behind Rodriguez's stellar start in the circle, pulling off the 3-0 win over the Golden Eagles (10-3).
Rodriguez was stellar in her first start of the season. The senior from Fort Myers, Fla., tied her career high with the 10 strikeouts, the third time she's reached the mark in her career with the Gamecocks. She scattered six Southern Miss hits and only walked two to earn the win.
The Gamecocks gave her a lead early, scoring two in the first inning.
Savannah Sudduth started the frame with her first of three singles in the game and later scored along with
Keeli Bobbitt on a
Megan Fortner single that gave JSU a 2-0 advantage.
JSU added one more in the second, when
Karsen Mosley legged out a bases-loaded, two-out infield single that drove in
Caroline Lively and put a 3-0 lead in Rodriguez's pocket.
That would be more than she would need, recording at least one strikeout in all but one inning and had three innings with multiple strikeouts. She struck out the side in the second.
USM's McKenna Pierce (1-2) was tagged with the loss in her start, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits over six innings. She walked five and struck out five.
Sudduth was 3-for-4 at the plate to account for half of JSU's hits, while Mosley and Fortner had the game's only RBI.
Some tough luck for Jacksonville State put the Gamecocks in a 3-0 hole in the second inning of game one.
Alexus Jimmerson tried to work around a pair of walks, but a two-out bloop from Karley Nichols found some turf down the left field line and scored two. The Golden Eagles pushed one more across on a fielding error by
Megan Fortner at first and put a three-run lead on the board.
JSU got one of them back in the home half of the second on freshman
Alex Howard's first career RBI, a single to left center that drove in
Lauren Hunt from second. It was Hunt's first of two runs scored in the game.
The Golden Eagles pulled away in the fourth and fifth, scoring one on Karsen Pierce's fourth-inning solo homer and two in the fifth on RBI singles from Maria Smith and Heather Hill.
JSU did score one in the fourth on a two-out RBI single from Jimmerson, but Southern Miss also added a pair in the sixth.
Kaylan Ladner (5-0) earned the win for the Golden Eagles, limiting the Gamecocks to two runs on six hits in seven innings of work. She walked two and struck out one. Jimmerson (0-2) suffered the loss, allowing six runs, five earned, on four hits and seven walks in her five innings in the circle. She picked up two strikeouts.
The Gamecocks will now turn their focus to Ohio Valley Conference play, which will start on Saturday in Nashville with a doubleheader at Belmont. The first game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
