Alexander, Dukes Shut Down Blue Hens

Wednesday, May 12

Harrisonburg, Va.

5 p.m.

James Madison University

32-1

Delaware

23-8

Delaware

James Madison

5/12/2021 9:25:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. --- No. 22 James Madison softball shut out Delaware 5-0 as Odicci Alexander struck out a career-high 16 batters, setting a Colonial Athletic Association single-game tournament record, in her second no-hitter of the 2021 season, coming just a walk shy of a second perfect game in two weeks.

JMU moved to 32-1 overall and the Blue Hens fell to 23-8. The Dukes recorded their 12^th shutout of the season.

Kate Gordon was dominant at the plate for the Dukes, going 2-for-4 made up of two solo home runs. Sara Jubas followed Gordon adding a solo shot over the left field wall, while also picking up a base hit and another run.

In the circle, Alexander picked up her 11th win and fifth shutout of the season as she recorded a career high for strikeouts. The 16 strikeouts tied the JMU record for strikeouts across seven innings, which was set by Jailyn Ford on March 23, 2013 in JMU's 5-2 over Towson. The redshirt senior struck out 16 of the 22 batters she faced in the seven-inning game while walking one.

How It Happened

JMU took the lead in the bottom of the first and never gave it up. Gordon fired off her 62^nd career home run over the right field fence scoring the first run for the Dukes.

It was a battle of the pitchers for the next three innings as Alexander threw six strikeouts during the scoreless stretch.

Gordon got the fire going in the bottom of the fifth as she launched another home run over the left field fence to up JMU's score to 2-0 over Delaware. Jubas followed with her ninth home run of the season to score the third run for JMU.

Alexander added to the fire with a walk and was replaced by Kylie Thress as a pinch runner. Logan Newton followed with a walk to get two on with no outs. Madison Naujokas hit a sacrifice bunt to move her teammates into scoring position. With one out on the board, Lynsey Meeks fired off a two-run single to left field to push in the final runs for JMU, making the score 5-0 over Delaware.

Up Next

Top-seeded JMU will face the second-seeded Drexel Dragons at 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 13, at Veterans Memorial Park in the second day of the CAA Championship.