HARRISONBURG, Va. (JMU Athletics) – James Madison softball tied a season-high with three home runs, but App State put up 13 runs on 14 hits to down the Dukes in the second game of its three-game set in six innings by a score of 13-5 in Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Park.

Makayla McClain had another stellar performance for App State (12-20, 3-5 SBC), going 3-for-4 at the plate with a three-run home run and driving in a career-high five runs.

Hannah Hennessy, Payton List, and Jasmine Hall all hit the ball out of the park for JMU (11-19, 0-8 SBC), the fourth time this season the Dukes have hit three home runs in a game.

The closest the Dukes came to App State was following Hall’s fifth home run of the year, when the two-run shot made it a four-run ballgame, but the Mountaineers proceeded to score four runs in the final two frames, leading to the 13-5 rout.

List’s two-run home run was her ninth of the year, tying her 2024 total and her eighth multi-RBI game of the 2025 campaign.

Morgan Mesaros took her first at-bat in 384 days and cranked a double to left center field, ahead of the List home run in the third inning.

How it Happened

Second Inning
• McClain singled down the left field line with the bases loaded to score two, for the 2-0 App State lead

Top of the Third Inning
• Taylor Chumbley and Julia Girk each had RBI singles with the bases loaded to extend the Mountaineers lead to 4-0
• Girk came around to score on a wild pitch to make it 5-0 App State
• McClain struck again, this time with a three-run home run to left field, putting the Mountaineers up eight in the third.
• Leah Gore singled to center field to bring another runner home for App State, 9-0

Bottom of the Third Inning
• Hennessy hit a solo shot to center field to put the Dukes on the board, 9-1
• With one-out List drilled a two-run shot to left-center field, to edge the Dukes closer, 9-3

Fourth Inning
• Hall hit the Dukes’ third home run of the game; Another two-run shot to make it a four-run ballgame.

Fifth Inning
• Grace Barrett singled to right field to put the Mountaineers in double-digits
• Gore followed suit with a solo homer to left field to make 12-5

Sixth Inning
• App State successfully executed a double steal to head into run-rule territory, 13-5

Game Notes
• Hennessy’s home run in the third inning was her first home run since facing Georgia State on April 6, 2023
• With her fifth home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth inning, Hall needs four more home runs to tie Julia Dominguez (2006-09) for tenth all-time in program history with 30 in her career.
• Hall also earned her third multi-RBI game, needing just 11 more to encapsulate 100 in her career
• Saturday’s contest against the Mountaineers marked the first time the Dukes lost a game in which they hit three or more home runs this season (Penn State, Binghamton, Fordham)
• James Madison’s two-homer third was the third inning this season it hit two or more home runs in a single inning.

— JMU Athletics —