MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Jacksonville State softball team scored early at Middle Tennessee State on Wednesday, but the Blue Raiders' pulled away for an 11-2 win.
The Gamecocks (5-13) got on the board in the second inning on
Lizzy VanManen's first home run of the season, a two-run blast that followed a walk to
Alexus Jimmerson and gave JSU the early 2-0 lead. The Blue Raiders (13-11) would score 11 unanswered from that point, starting with a four-run second.
They scored their four first-inning runs on four hits and three walks and never looked back, adding three more runs in the third and four in the sixth to end the game with the 11-2 score on the board.
JSU scattered five hits over five batters, with VanManen's homer and
Jada Terry's double accounting for the Gamecocks' two extra-base hits.
Ryan King was 2-for-2 to lead MTSU, while Danielle Taitt had a team-high two RBI. The Blue Raiders had 10 hits, nine singles and a Taitt double.
Nicole Rodriguez (2-3) suffered the loss for JSU after surrendering three runs on three hits in 1 and 2/3 innings of work.
Reagan Watkins entered in the second and allowed a run on three walks before making way for
Hannah Brown.
Brown allowed three on three hits in her 3 and 1/3 innings, while
Lexi Androlevich gave up the final four runs on four hits.
Corrina Dodd (5-0) earned the win after giving up two runs on four hits in five innings in the circle. Taitt earned her first save of the season after getting the final out in the top of the sixth. She entered with the bases loaded and the tying run on deck and got out of the inning before the MTSU rally in the home half of the sixth.
The Gamecocks will return home on Friday for a doubleheader against SIU-Edwardsville that will start a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series at University Field. Friday's games will start at 1 p.m. and the series will wrap up with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday.
