COLUMBIA, Mo. - Senior
Odicci Alexander threw a complete-game one-hitter and sparked the winning rally in the seventh inning on Friday night to lead James Madison to a 2-1 victory over No. 8 Missouri in the first game of the Columbia Super Regional at Mizzou Softball Stadium, on Friday night.
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The win was the 28th consecutive victory for the Dukes, who improved to 38-1 on the season, while Missouri fell to 41-16 on the year. The second game of the best-of-three super regional is scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT on Saturday evening, with the Dukes needing just one win to reach their first-ever Women's College World Series.
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Alexander continued her brilliant season in the circle as she improved to 15-0 on the year, throwing all seven innings and yielding just one hit to one of the nation's strongest lineups, striking out 10 along the way. She tossed her 10th double-digit strikeout game of the season against the Tigers.
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The senior also opened the top of the seventh with an infield single - the Dukes' first hit of the evening - to key a three-hit rally that saw JMU break a scoreless tie and take a 2-0 lead into the final half-inning.
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After senior
Madison Naujokas was hit by a pitch, fellow redshirt junior
Lynsey Meeks laced an infield single deep into the hole to load the bases. Redshirt freshman
Emily Phillips finally broke the stalemate, dropping a pinch-hit single into shallow left center field to make it 1-0 before freshman
Lauren Bernett plated Naujokas on a sacrifice fly to provide the eventual game-winning run.
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Missouri loaded the bases twice in the bottom half, cutting the lead to 2-1 on a walk before Alexander got leadoff hitter Brooke Wilmes to fly out to left to close the victory.
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