HATTIESBURG, Miss.  – The Jacksonville State softball team took advantage of opportunities in a late rally to beat Alcorn State and salvage a split on day two of the Southern Miss Golden Eagle Invite on Saturday.
 
After dropping a 3-0 decision to Southern Illinois-Edwardsville to start the day, the Gamecocks (6-2) rallied to outscore the Braves by 10 runs over the final three innings to cap the day with a 14-7 win.
 
In the win over Alcorn State, Jax State had eight hits, including homers from Lindsey Richardson and Linley Tubbs and a double from Morgan Nowakowski, while the Braves committed seven fielding errors, issued 10 walks and threw five wild pitches.
 
Nowakowski and Lauren Hunt each had a pair of hits in the win, while Richardson drove in a team-high three runs. Emma Jones and Tubbs drove in two runs apiece, while Jones scored three times and stole two bases.
 
The Gamecocks got an early lead in the game against Alcorn State, when Jones was hit by the second pitch of the game and moved over to third before scoring on a Richardson sac fly to center field.
 
The lead didn't last long, thanks to a four-run second by the Braves that was highlighted by a pair of two-run singles from Kristen Edwards and Kelsey Lockridge that put them up 4-1.
 
Jax State cut it to a 4-3 deficit in the third, thanks to a two-run Richardson homer that came with two outs and scored Jones after she reached on a fielder's choice. ASU answered with two runs on two triples in the home half to push the lead back to three at 6-3.
 
The Gamecocks' big inning came in the fifth, when they were finally able to break through with five runs on four hits and two Brave errors in the frame. Tubbs reached on the first error that scored the first two runs of the inning. 
 
Nowakowski tied the game two batters later on her two-out RBI single before another two-out, two-run single from Jones put Jax State up 8-6. 
 
Another Alcorn run in the home half of the fifth briefly cut JSU's lead to one, but freshman Linley Tubbs launched a solo home run to left center in the sixth to get it right back for Jax State and put a 9-7 advantage on the board,
 
The Gamecocks broke the game wide open in the seventh, scoring five runs without being credited with a hit and taking advantage of two Alcorn State errors and four walks.
 
They took the 14-7 advantage into the home half of the seventh, when Kat Carter worked around a pair of walks to close out the win for Jax State.
 
Carter (3-0) grabbed her third win of the season and first in relief after entering the circle in the third inning and limiting the Braves to three runs on six hits over the next five frames. She struck out four and walked two in relief of Hannah Brown, who gave up four runs, two earned, on two hits and three walks in two innings of work.
 
Alexa Veamoi (1-3) suffered the loss for the Braves after giving up eight runs on six hits and three walks in 4 and 2/3 innings, while Ta'Niyah Fletcher gave up six runs on two hits and seven walks in 2 and 1/3 innings.
 
In the first game of the day, the Gamecocks couldn't get anything going against SIUE's Kelsey Ray. They mustered just two hits in seven scoreless innings, striking out eight times while walking just once. 
 
Richardson and senior Holly Stewart had Jax State's two hits, both singles, while Ray got two runs of support in the second and an insurance run in the fifth.
 
Freshman Jaliyah Holmes suffered the first loss of her career after allowing three runs on seven hits in six frames in the circle for Jax State. Holmes (1-1) struck out seven Cougar batters and walked one before making way for Hannah Brown to toss a scoreless seventh with two strikeouts.
 
The Gamecocks will wrap up the tournament on Sunday, when they will play the host Golden Eagles at 2:30 p.m.