JACKSONVILLE, Fla.- The Jacksonville softball team defeated the North Florida Ospreys 4-1 in Sunday's series finale of the River City Rumble.
 
Reese Wells (6-1) started in the circle for the Dolphins (21-21,11-7 ASUN) and was lights out for most of the afternoon. The freshman spun a two-hit complete game and surrendered just one run en route to tying her teammate Shelby Harpe in wins with her sixth of the season.

The Dolphins did all their damage in the fifth inning. Dacie Watterson led the frame off with a walk, and Madison Bratek followed up with a bunt single to put runners on first and second with no outs. A perfectly placed sacrifice bunt from Madison Reynolds moved the runners up 60 feet, and Kari Holzrichter joined the walk parade to load the bases. After a dropped foul ball from the UNF third basewoman, Averi Harcus walked, and Kailey Harrigan hit home another to give JU a 2-0 lead. Alison Carter then greeted the first pitch she saw with a single through the right side, which scored Harcus and gave the Dolphins their 3-0 lead.

UNF responded immediately in the top half of the sixth, using a leadoff single to push for its first run of the day. After a sacrifice bunt and fielder's choice, a sacrifice fly scored an Osprey run, and brought up Allison Benning as the tying run. Wells was up for the challenge and got the conference's leader in home runs to ground out to second base to end the threat.

Jacksonville was resilient in its approach to UNF responding in the sixth and tallied one in the bottom of the inning themselves. A pair of doubles from Gabi Robles and Madison Reynolds saw Robles cross home to re-extend the JU lead back up to three, 4-1.

The Ospreys came to bat in the top of the seventh, hoping for a chance to tie. Wells continued to mow down the lineup and ended the game with a three-up, three-down frame to put the game away and give JU the win.\

WHAT THEY SAID
 

Hear from @JAXCoachE and Reese Wells after the teams win! pic.twitter.com/py77FJLIOF

— Jacksonville Softball ?? (@JAX_Softball) April 21, 2024

UP NEXT
The Dolphins travel North to Nashville for a weekend series with Lipscomb next weekend. First pitch of the Saturday doubleheader is slated for 4 pm on April 27.