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Box Score 3 EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - After SIUE softball defeated Jacksonville State 8-0 in six innings Saturday morning, a rain delay for the second straight day has caused the Ohio Valley Conference Championship to alter its schedule.
The Cougars will now play Murray State in an elimination game set to start at 4:30 p.m. The winner of that game will move on to face Tennessee Tech in the championship game. If Tennessee Tech would lose that contest, an if necessary game would be played at 10 a.m. Sunday.
SIUE, 42-15, elimimated its second team of the tournament with a six-inning win over Jacksonville State, 38-17.
Haley Chambers, 25-7, tossed her OVC-leading eighth shutout of the season on a two-hitter. She struck out five and is now the all-time single-season leader in school history with 307 strikeouts. Chambers passed Sabra McCune, who had 304 during the 2006 season.
Chambers, a junior, also inched closer to the career record. She currently is tied with Kaitlin Colosimo for second all-time with 715. Erika Taylor (2008-11) holds the career strikeouts record with 737.
While the pitching was strong for the Cougars, the offense was in top form as well.
Alex McDavid put the Cougars on the scoreboard in the first inning with an RBI single.
Rachel Keller made it 2-0 in the third inning with a base hit down the right field line that drove home Chambers.
SIUE jumped on Jacksonville State starter Taylor West for five runs in the fourth inning. Jordan LaFave started the rally with a two-out bunt single. With back-to-back singles by Chambers and Rebecca Gray, LaFave scored. Both Chambers and Gray would score on an infield error off the bat of Allison Smiley to put SIUE up 5-0.
McDavid then hit her fourth home run of the tournament and ninth of the season. With Smiley ahead of McDavid, SIUE raced to a 7-0 lead.
The Cougars closed out the game in the sixth. Jacksonville State reliever Whitney Gillespie loaded the bases with a hit batter and two infield hits. McDavid followed with her fourth RBI of the game, a sacrifice fly to right field that ended the game on the eight-run rule.
