It appeared that South Carolina was going to suffer its first home series loss of the year to No. 20 Arkansas, but with two outs in the bottom of the sixth in the series finale, the second of a doubleheader on Sunday, the No. 11 Gamecocks changed that prediction with one swing. Krystan White turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead for the Gamecocks en route to a 6-2 win and another SEC series win.
The Gamecocks squeaked out a 2-1 win to start the three-game series with the Razorbacks behind clutch hitting from Jana Johns Friday night. Johns delivered a two-out, bases-loaded single to give the Gamecocks the lead they needed.
“That was clutch,” head coach Beverley Smith said. “That was really the run that put us on the board. I, in fact, wrote on my scorecard ‘clutch’. It was just — she just battled in that ab, and it got a run for us."
The Gamecocks lost the first game of Sunday’s double header 4-0 and were only able to muster a single hit off of Arkansas pitcher Mary Haff. The Razorbacks scored all four runs in the first inning and were able to shut the Gamecocks offense down. The loss was the Gamecocks first home loss of the season in 18 tries.
In game two of the double header, the Gamecocks refocused as they trailed 2-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth and had just three hits in game two of the double header.
Prior to bottom of sixth the team put their bats together like a fire hoping to ignite the team and they did. This was just the start of the Gamecocks showing they aren’t out until the game is over.
“I think it shows us that no matter what inning, no matter what the score is, we can always come back to win,” Krystan White said.
Senior catcher Alyssa VanDerveer said that she has never been on a team with this type of never say die attitude.
“This is unreal,” VanDerveer said. “This is awesome and for us to do what we did for the first part of the day and all of a sudden put up six spot was just incredible.”
Another huge part of the Gamecocks success in game two was holding the Razorbacks to just a single run in the first and third innings despite having the bases loaded. Freshman Kelsey Oh listened to her catcher and was able to get out of jams keeping the Gamecocks within striking distance.
“I told her to focus on a spot,” VanDerveer said. “I thought she was leaving it a little plate-side, asked her if she could move the ball over. She ended up doing that and she was unstoppable.”
Smith thinks this is the most will-driven team she has had here.
“The team absolutely believes in everybody in the dugout," Smith said. "We have what we need in there. This is a team that has said, ‘we’re all in’ and they never quit playing today.”
The will has driven the Gamecocks to a 33-7, 8-4 SEC record. The Gamecocks will travel to face Winthrop on Wednesday before visiting SEC leading Florida for a weekend series.