JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State softball team swept the Ohio Valley Conference's weekly awards on Monday, when the league office announced that Chrissy O'Neal and Ashley Eliasson were this week's Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively.

Both O'Neal and Eliasson earned their respective honor for the second time this season, thanks to their performances in guiding the Gamecocks (27-17, 13-6 OVC) to a convincing sweep of Tennessee State over the weekend. The series catapulted JSU past Morehead State into the No. 2 seed for this week's conference tournament, meaning the Gamecocks will receive a first-round bye in the double elimination bracket.

O'Neal, a senior outfielder from Dallas, Ga., went 6-for-9 with a double, two home runs, eight RBI and six runs scored on the week. She used a record-setting performance on Saturday to highlight her weekend at the plate. In the final game of the Gamecocks' doubleheader with the Tigers, she tied school records with two home runs and seven RBI to lead JSU to a 12-4 mercy-rule win. With the two home runs, she joined Daniela Pappano as the only two players in school history to hit 40 or more homers in a career.

Eliasson, a junior from Vallejo, Calif., left her mark on all three games of the series. She went 2-0 as a starter and tossed two innings in relief of Saturday's finale to earn her first save of the year. She went the distance in the series opener, holding the Tigers to a run on two hits, and won the final game of the series on Sunday to run her streak of consecutive decisions won to 13. In that finale, she needed just 39 pitches to limit TSU to two hits through four innings of the run-rule win.

The Gamecocks will begin their quest to win the 2010 OVC Tournament in Martin, Tenn., on Thursday at 4 p.m., when they face the winner of the Morehead State/Tennessee Tech game earlier in the day. All of the Gamecocks' games in the tournament will be carried live on the JSU Radio Network.