Jax State softball: Gamecocks suffer rare defeat, and their foe celebrates
JACKSONVILLE — If nothing else, Jacksonville State softball found out Sunday that it means plenty to beat the Gamecocks. Jax State already has clinched the Conference USA regular-season championship, but fell 5-4 in the team's final home game of the season to 10th-place Middle Tennessee. When the Blue Raiders recorded the last out, two of the infielders threw their gloves in the air.
Everyone let out shouts of joy and sprinted to the pitcher's circle. This was anything but a matter-of-fact celebration. "We're a fantastic team top to bottom, so for them to celebrate that … yeah, I'll take that as a compliment," Jacksonville State coach Julie Boland said.
"I don't like seeing it on our field. I don't like feeling it on our field. But, if we can learn from this, we'll be all right.
" The result didn't change either team's postseason fate, although it did add a bit of a damper to Jax State's Senior Day celebrations The Gamecocks still will be the No. 1 seed in the CUSA tournament May 5-9 in Newark, Delaware, while Middle Tennessee still is eliminated from the eight-team field. Even so, on this day, Jax State struggled to break the door open when it had opportunities.
The Gamecocks had runners reach base on 11 hits, five walks and two fielding errors. In the end, Jax State left 11 runners on base. "We left a lot of runners on base, and I think we made it harder on ourselves today than it needed to be," Boland said.
Continue to the original source for the full article.