Jax State softball: Elrod's blast, Moore's strong finish lifts first-place Gamecocks
JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville State softball's Emma Elrod doesn't think of herself as a home run hitter, and with her standing a slender 5-foot-4, probably not a whole lot of other folks do, either. Still, good luck to any pitcher who isn't careful when Elrod stands in the batter's box. She has a knack for the long ball, especially at times when the Gamecocks need it most.
In Saturday's 6-2 home win over New Mexico State, she broke a 2-2 tie with a three-run, no-doubt shot over the left field fence in the fourth inning. "I don't try to hit home runs, but there were runners in scoring position, and I knew we needed a lead. So I was just like, if a ball comes, put it in play.
And it went over the fence," said Elrod, who now has 20 career home runs in her three years in Jax State red and white. The second she struck the ball, she figured it would go out. "I did," she said.
"I did think it would. But, I knew the wind was coming in. So, I was like, OK, maybe not, but it felt really good coming off the bat.
" That moment changed the atmosphere: while the Jax State dugout reacted as if someone had set off a bundle of fireworks, that homer deflated the New Mexico State more flat than an old spare tire. "I think we knew the whole time that we were going to win that game," Elrod said. "There was nobody that was going to beat us, and I think that just gave us the extra inch, the extra energy that we needed just to finish the game.