JACKSONVILLE – In its first extra-inning contest of the season, Jax State walked-off North Florida, 5-4, on Emma Jones' leadoff home run to begin the bottom of the ninth to run the Gamecocks' winning streak to an even dozen.
 
The Gamecocks (23-9, 9-0 ASUN) had to earn their third-straight sweep in conference play the hard way by rallying for just the second win of the season when trailing after six innings. Meanwhile, the Ospreys (19-15) walk away from University Field 2-7 in ASUN action after being on the doorstep to handing JSU its first league loss.
 
With 12 wins in a row, Jax State now holds the sixth-longest active streak in the nation behind Oklahoma, Clemson, Marshall, Indiana and Oklahoma State. With a perfect 9-0 league mark, the Gamecocks maintain their one-game lead over second-place Central Arkansas in the ASUN.
 
Emma Jones led the way with three of JSU's 10 total hits, but the last one will be the one remembered when she sent the first pitch she saw in the bottom of the ninth over the fence for her first home run at University Field. The walk-off scenario was made possible two frame earlier when Holly Stewart sent a two-RBI shot to the wall to even the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
 
The game required contributions from nearly everyone on the roster in a win head coach Jana McGinnis called a "total team victory," postgame.
 
"That speaks to the belief of this team in this team," said McGinnis. "To not give up and fight to the end. We tell them all the time to just 'be ready' because a time is going to come when we need you to step in, and it may not be what you've practiced. We're trying to win a conference season and in the course of that you're going to have to have contributions from everyone."
 
Starting way back in the first, sophomore Kat Carter started in the circle for JSU. UNF touched her for a two-run home run in the first inning, but Carter bounced back to settle things down. Lindsey Richardson helped erase those runs with a RBI double in the home half of the first and a game-tying solo homer in the third.
 
After the first, Carter didn't allow a hit until the Ospreys connected on back-to-back doubles in the fourth to reclaim a 3-2 advantage. Carter would finish the frame, but yield the rest of the game to freshman Jaliyah Holmes.
 
UNF padded its lead in the top of the seventh stringing together a couple of hits off Holmes to grab a 4-2 lead, before sending Jax State to the plate with three outs remaining.
 
With one out, Jones delivered a perfect bunt that stuck just down the third-base line and allowed her to beat the throw to first. She was unable to advance on a fly-out by Richardson, but freshman Linley Tubbs drew a clutch two-out walk to get aboard as the tying run.
 
As part of the "total team effort" Holmes made an appearance out of the dugout to run for Tubbs at first after the Gamecocks had exhausted several of their pinch hitters or runners earlier in the contest. Stewart followed Tubbs at the plate and drove the first pitch she saw deep into the right field gap. Jones and Holmes took off around the bases and JSU's 11-game winner in the circle was able to score from first to tie the game.
 
Following a quiet eighth, UNF got the leadoff runner on to start the ninth, but a failed bunt attempt to advance the runner to second was caught by Abbi Perkins jumping out of her catcher's spot for the pop-up. Richardson would field a grounder at first for the next out, before Stewart closed the glove on a pop to third for the third out.
 
In the bottom of the ninth it took just one pitch for Jones to send a ball sailing over the right-center field fence for the walk-off home run.