Jacksonville State Defeats Florida State in NCAA Softball Regional

JSU's Allie Barker went 2-for-4 in the win over Florida State. Jacksonville State Sports Information Photo

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - In its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1996, the Jacksonville State softball team picked up a historic 4-3 win over Florida State at the University of Alabama Softball Complex in the first game of the Tuscaloosa Regional.

 

The third-seeded Gamecocks (39-14) put just enough runs on the board to support a stellar performance from freshman Ashley Eliasson to win the school’s first NCAA Tournament game and down the Seminoles (37-27) for the first time in five tries.

 

Eliasson allowed three runs in the first without allowing a ball out of the infield, but the Vallejo, Calif., native settled in and allowed just three hits the rest of the way to put the No. 2 seeded Seminoles in the loser’s bracket of the four-team regional. The Gamecocks will play the winner of Thursday’s Alabama-Chattanooga Game at 2:30 p.m. on Friday to see who advances to Saturday’s title game on ESPN2.

 

JSU scattered eight hits, two by junior Allie Barker, and scored on two wild pitches to pull out the win, the team’s 10th in a row. Junior Allie Barker was 2-for-4 at the plate, while junior Kayla Collins and senior Whitney Elder each drove in a run. Collins, a Niceville, Fla., native, transferred to JSU after playing her first two seasons at FSU.

 

The Seminoles were led by Carly Wynn, who went 2-for-4 at the top of the lineup.

 

Eliasson (15-3) won her seventh-straight decision in the circle after allowing three runs on five hits in seven innings of work. She struck out four and walked one. McDonald, sister of former Gamecock Melinda McDonald, allowed two runs on six hits in six innings, but Terese Gober (10-13) took the loss in relief. She surrendered two runs on two hits in just one inning in the circle.

 

The Gamecocks got a run in the top of the first after a couple of hits set up a McDonald wild pitch that allowed senior Rachel Fleming to score from third. The Seminoles answered in the home half of the first, plating three runs on two hits, two hit batters and a costly JSU error.

 

The two wouldn’t mount any threats until the fourth, when Collins took doubled into the gap in left center to score junior Jackie Jarman from first. JSU would take the lead in the fifth on an RBI single from Elder and a wild pitch from Gober that allowed senior pinch runner Amy Brown to score from third.

Source: OVC - Softball News - Jacksonville State Sports Information Press Release
To view article on OVC Web site, click here.

---

Submit items for news releases by using the request form at www.jsu.edu/newswire/request.