The Daily Gamecock

Late-inning heroics power Gamecocks past Lady Vols

The No. 15 South Carolina softball team mounted a huge, late-inning comeback that would result in the team's second walk-off win of the season, getting the 8-7 win over No. 2 Tennessee. 

The Gamecocks trailed 7-3 to the Lady Vols heading into the bottom of the fifth before tying it in the sixth off of a Jana Johns two-run home run. The Gamecocks would win after Kenzi Maguire doubled off the wall to leadoff the seventh before scoring on a wild pitch.

Tiara Duffy hit a moonshot of a home run to right field that landed in the beach volleyball court, that initiated the spark in the Gamecocks' comeback. Johns's game-tying home run went past the flag poles and hit the tents set up by the track.

Head coach Beverly Smith said after Friday's game how nice it is to see her players hitting the long ball and getting those big at-bats. 

“It was great,” Smith said. “Right off the bat it was a no-doubter, right out of the park."

Duffy's home run in the fifth is what gave the Gamecocks some life, closing the Lady Vols' lead to just three runs. Duffy said that her blast is what showed the team that they were capable in battling back. 

"It was awesome," Duffy said. "I feel like it was a spark for everyone else saying 'Ok, we can do this.' It proved that we were still in it, it doesn't  matter who we're playing, we're going to fight until the end."  

The Gamecocks win came with a little controversy, however. In the fourth inning, Aubrey Leach appeared to score for the Lady Vols, but the umpires ruled that she did not cross the plate before Jenna Holcomb was tagged out at third. Tennessee coach Ralph Weekly said he wasn't sure if it was the right call, but knew the impact it had. 

"I honestly have not seen a replay," Weekly said. "I can't tell you if it scored or not but, it definitely changed the complex of the game." 

Had the run counted, Tennessee would have been up 8-3 heading into the fifth inning and that could have made South Carolina's comeback much harder. 

The Gamecocks improve to 26-4 (3-1 SEC) while the Vols dropped to 30-2 (3-1 SEC), their first loss in 23 games. South Carolina and Tennessee continue its three-game series on Saturday, with first pitch of game two at 3 p.m.


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