Nine is just fine for MOC's Jenny Jackson

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on March 5, 2007 2:57 PM

• Print
• Email

ELIZABETH CITY -- Jenny Jackson tied for the fifth-highest single-game RBI total in NCAA II softball history in game one with nine runs batted in and Shauna Cowdrey struck out a career-high 13 batters in game two as Mount Olive swept a non-conference softball doubleheader at Elizabeth City State, taking game one 14-2 and winning the nightcap 9-0.

Mount Olive (12-4) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning of game one as Tiffanie Pittman and Morgan Whaley singled and Jackson brought them home with her third home run of the season. Jackson and Whaley are tied for the team lead in home runs.

Jackson, a graduate of Charles B. Aycock and a transfer from Division I Western Carolina, drove in two more runs in a five-run second inning. After Karen Thornton and Melissa Bright scored the first two runs of the inning, Jackson singled to plate Whaley and Erin Wilson. Kensie Cobb's RBI double capped the scoring to give the Trojans an 8-0 lead.

After Elizabeth City State (0-4) scored an unearned run off Trojan starter Krystal Bourne in the bottom of the second, the Trojans extended their lead with four more runs in the top of the fourth.

Mount Olive loaded the bases with nobody out on walks to Pittman and Whaley and a single by Wilson. Jackson cleared the bases with a double, bringing her RBI total to eight. Jackson scored on Cobb's RBI single to make the score 12-1.

Colleen Thomas led off the fifth with a single and eventually scored on Wilson's single. Wilson would eventually score on Jackson's single to cap the Trojans' scoring and put the exclamation mark on Jackson's performance.

Jackson finished 4-for-4, coming within a triple of hitting for the cycle. The NCAA II record for most RBIs in a game is 11.

Wilson, Whaley and Cobb added two hits apiece for the Trojans. Wilson, Whaley and Jackson scored three runs apiece as the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 batters in the lineup combined for nine runs.

Bourne (4-0) allowed three hits in three innings pitched, while Christine Ermer pitched the final two innings, allowing one run on two hits. Ermer helped herself defensively with a game-ending 1-3 double play.

In the nightcap, Cowdrey (3-2) struck out seven of the final 10 batters she faced and did not allow a hit after the fourth inning. Cowdrey finished with a four-hitter and escaped a two-out bases-loaded jam in the fourth with a ground out to short. Cowdrey, who tossed a no-hitter Friday against Bluefield State, has now pitched 12 consecutive scoreless innings.

Five players had two hits each to spark the Trojans' 12-hit attack. Mount Olive took a 2-0 lead in the first on a run-scoring single by Kat Cahoon and an RBI double by Jackson. Two Elizabeth City State errors led to a run in the second and Ashley Raynor doubled home a run in the third.

An error led to another run in the fifth and the Trojans added two more in the sixth on RBI singles by Cameron Deal and Tiffany Taylor to extend the lead to 7-0. Mount Olive had a chance to record a run-rule win with two runners on base and only one out, but ECSU pitcher got out of the inning on a strikeout and a ground out.

The Trojans used Cobb's RBI groundout and Wilson's run-scoring single to score their final two runs in the seventh.

Wilson, Cahoon, Jackson, Thornton and Taylor each had two hits for the Trojans in game two.

Mount Olive will spend Spring Break on the road to play nine games in a pair of tournaments. The Trojans head to Savannah, Ga., Tuesday and Wednesday for the Smash Hit Tournament, hosted by Savannah College of Art and Design. Mount Olive then heads to Florence, S.C., Friday through Sunday to compete in the Francis Marion University Patriot Invitational. Among the Trojans' five games at Florence is a meeting Sunday against nationally sixth-ranked and defending South Atlantic Region champion Georgia College and State.