MONTGOMERY – After weekend play was called off for Friday, Jax State bounced back on Saturday picking up a pair of wins over Eastern Illinois and Bryant to open Alabama State's Black and Gold Tournament.
 
The Gamecocks held off former Ohio Valley Conference foe EIU, 3-1, in the early game and returned later Saturday night to pull away from the Bryant Bulldogs late by a 9-2 final.
 
Freshman Amber Reed earned her first career win on Saturday with a seven-inning complete game performance against EIU. The Suwanee, Ga., product struck out four and spread five hits across the ledger to becoming just one run allowed.
 
Once leadoff batters Emma Jones and Emma Elrod got aboard to start the game, an RBI single for Lindsey Richardson and a RBI fielder's choice for Morgan Nowakowski made it an early 2-0 lead for the Gamecocks. When the Panthers scratched across a run in the bottom of the first, Ashley Phillips helped cushion the lead back to two with an RBI sacrifice fly to left in the third frame. The score from that point would hold with Reed allowing just one hit through the final four innings.
 
In the second contest of the day, Jax State received an equally impressive performance in the circle by way of junior Kat Carter's complete game. She struck out six and allowed just two runs, only one earned, en route to her first victory of the season.
 
The action was back-and-forth early with runs in the first four half innings for a 3-2 Jax State advantage heading into the third. From there, things settled down and the Gamecocks eventually padded Carter's lead when Richardson cleared the bases with a 3-RBI single in the fourth. The Gamecocks later put another crooked number on the board in the sixth when Phillips launched a 3-run homer.
 
The Gamecocks are set to face tournament host Alabama State at 12:30 on Sunday.