RUSTON, La. — Jacksonville State played about 5½ hours of softball Sunday and offered the crowd of 398 at Louisiana Tech a little bit of everything.
In the first game of a doubleheader, the Gamecocks bashed 14 hits in a 9-6 win. Then in the second contest, their defense was near flawless to back up Kat Carter's gutty pitching effort, although they lost 1-0 when the home Bulldogs scored on an infield single in the bottom of the last inning.
"Game 3 is always going to be a battle," Jacksonville State coach Julie Boland said. "I think both pitchers threw really, really well. I think our team showed a lot more fight today. So as for the series, if we can learn from it, we'll get better."
Louisiana Tech took two of three in the series, including a 4-2 win Friday. Bulldogs pitcher Allie Floyd (17-7) got the win in Sunday's second game. She also got the win in Friday's victory. In the series, she worked 12 innings and allowed two runs. In both contests, Jacksonville State made contact at the plate but got little luck.
On Sunday, Carter (8-5) allowed six hits and six walks but always seemed to find something extra when the game got especially tight. In the bottom of the third inning, Louisiana Tech loaded the bases with one out, but Carter got out of it with a pop up and a strikeout.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Bulldogs loaded the bases with one out again with cleanup hitter Nicole Hammoude due at the plate. Carter got her to pop up to first baseman Kailey Martin. Then she got Claire Raley to hit a slow roller that headed between third baseman Jaci Underwood and shortstop Aria Davis.
Underwood had only one chance for the out — she dove for the ball, but it ticked off her outstretched glove. Jina Baffuto raced home with the game-ending run.
For Boland, that moment didn't take away from Carter's effort.
"Her mindset right now, I think, is in the right spot," Boland said. "She wants to have fun. It's her last year. She knows this is it. She's thinking, 'I'm gonna have fun and I'm gonna throw my best. I'm gonna be the best that I can be.' She is tough on the mound. When she is in the right mind space, it is tough to hit her. I thought she threw a great game tonight."
That last play didn't change her mind about Underwood, who played Gold Glove defense all day. A freshman, she caught four putouts, including one where she nearly ran into the fence chasing a pop-up. She also threw out four runners apiece in the two games.
"We have been preaching all-out effort, and that's what she gives us every time," Boland said. "So for her diving out at that ball, I'm not mad about it. It's tough luck for us, it's tough for Kat. It was a slow roller and she went as hard as she could after it, so I'm not gonna slow her up any at all."
In the opening game, Jax State scored only twice in the first inning after getting two runners thrown out on the bases. That didn’t slow the Gamecocks, as they added one in the third inning and three more in both the fourth and seventh innings.
Emma Elrod went 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs while scoring three times. Amber Reed, the team’s hottest hitter in conference play besides Elrod, was 3-for-3 with four RBIs. She had an RBI single in the first inning, a sacrifice fly in the third and a two-run double in the seventh.
In the second game, JSU managed only two hits, although JSU had four deep fly balls to the outfield that were caught in front of the fence, including a liner by Reed to center field to start the fourth inning.
"That's the tough part of the sport," Boland said. "You can hit it on the nose 20 times, and if one doesn't go through, then they get the ...
