MONROE, La. – The Jacksonville State softball team broke out the bats and got pitching gems from a pair of freshmen in a sweep of Morehead State and Mississippi Valley State on Sunday at the ULM Best on the Bayou Tournament.
The Gamecocks (3-2) closed their opening weekend of the 2022 season with a 6-0 win over former Ohio Valley Conference foe MSU and then rolled to a 10-2 win over MVSU at the Ouachita Sportsplex. They closed a five-game weekend that saw them hit .333 as a team and average 7.2 runs per game while hitting 10 home runs and 10 doubles.
On Sunday, freshmen pitchers
Kat Carter and
Sarah Currie didn't need much run support. Karter tossed a four-hit shutout of Morehead State to start the day, while Currie went the distance and allowed just two runs against MVSU to put JSU in the win column. Both hurlers nabbed their first career wins on Sunday.
At the plate, junior
Brantly Bonds went a combined 6-for-7 on the day that featured three total homers and a double in each game. The transfer from Wallace State Community College was 3-for-3 with three RBI against the Eagles. In the nightcap vs. MVSU, she was 3-for-4 with seven RBI, tying her for the second-most RBI in a game in school history.
In the opener, Bonds doubled in
Keeli Bobbitt in the first and then homered in the third to put JSU up 2-0. A two-run double from
Chaney Phillips followed to stretch the Gamecocks' lead to 4-0 before the third inning came to an end.
Bonds recorded a sac fly in the fifth, and
Lauren Hunt scored on an
Addie Robinson grounder in the sixth to account for all of JSU's scoring in the game.
Freshman
Abbi Perkins went 2-for-3 with a double, while Bobbitt and Phillips also added a pair of hits in the win.
Madi Ogden suffered the loss for the Eagles after surrendering six runs on 11 hits in six innings of work. She walked two. Carter was in control for the Gamecocks, allowing just one extra base hit in her second career start.
Against the Delta Devilettes in the finale, Bonds carried the offense. She hit a three-run homer in the first inning and another three-run blast in the second that put the Gamecocks up 6-0 early.
Bobbitt drove in
Sidney Wagnon to start a three-run third that also featured an RBI single from sophomore
Lindsey Richardson and an RBI double from Bonds. Richardson's hit was one of four singles for the Moody, Ala., native in the game.
A Sydney Wesley two-run homer got MVSU on the board in the fourth, and a sixth-inning sac fly from
Addie Robinson put the 10
th and final run on the board for JSU in the sixth.
Currie (1-0) shined her first career start, limiting MVSU to just two extra-base hits, while striking out a pair. A'Tajua Wren suffered the loss after giving up nine runs on 11 hits in three frames in the circle.
Senior
Holly Stewart had a pinch-hit double for JSU, while Wagnon went 2-for-2.
The Gamecocks will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., for a tournament at Southern Miss that will start on Friday with games against Houston Baptist and the host Golden Eagles. They will play ULM twice on Saturday to wrap up the weekend.
