KENNESAW, Ga. – Jacksonville University's softball team split Atlantic Sun action with Kennesaw State Saturday afternoon as the Dolphins earned a 3-1 victory in game one before dropping a 7-6 slug fest in game two.
Jacksonville 3, Kennesaw State 1
Kennesaw State maintained a 1-0 lead until the fifth inning. Victoria Brown tripled down the right field line to bring home a run and in the very next at-bat Danielle Baker recorded a single to right field to score Brown.
Adding an insurance run in the sixth, Lexie Ballard's home run over the left field wall sealed the victory.
Three Dolphins finished with two hits in Brown, Baker and Charli Bradshaw as JU outhit the Owls 9-to-6.
Brown pitched the complete game with 7.0 innings and allowed six hits while striking out four.
Kennesaw State 7, Jacksonville 6
Game two of Saturday's doubleheader featured 23 hits, 13 runs, six lead changes and three ties. There was at least one run put on the board in all but one inning and it was a single through the right side in the sixth inning that sealed JU's fate.
The Dolphins' hitting efforts from the first game carried on to the second as Brown recorded a leadoff double to get things started. The Dolphins went on to take an early 2-0 edge off of Lexie Ballard's 2-RBI single.
The lead was short lived as the Owls used the home half of the inning to go up, 3-2, and that's where the action picked up.
The team's tied for the first time in the second and continued to trade runs through the sixth. Held hitless for the first time in the game, the Dolphins reached base on a walk and fielder's choice but couldn't advance a runner past second. Kennesaw used the Dolphins' lull to its advantage, tacking on the go-ahead run in the bottom of the stanza.
In need of a rally, Kristen Griffith drew the leadoff walk in the seventh. Not long after, she made her way to third after a Brooke Smith single and JU had runners on the corners with one out. Unfortunately for the Fins, a ground out and strike out capped the game.
Brown finished a perfect 3-for-3 while Ballard, Smith and Bradshaw each recorded two hits. Both Brown and Smith notched home runs.
Taylor Rossman earned the start and pitched 1.1 innings, surrendering six hits and four runs – three earned. Brown took the loss for the Dolphins after allowing three earned runs on five hits in 4.2 innings.
