Following a 10-inning game between Hofstra and Liberty and an hour-and-fifteen-minute-long weather delay which set the game’s starting and ending time back significantly, the South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the UNC Greensboro Spartans in the first-ever NCAA Regional softball game hosted by the Gamecocks at Beckham Field on Friday night.
The Gamecocks, who held a 25-2 record at home (15-9 in SEC play), are ranked at the No. 9 seed overall and the top seed in the Columbia Regional along with unranked Liberty, UNC Greensboro, and Hofstra.
The 3-0 win over the Spartans was not the only victory South Carolina claimed, this weekend also marks the first time South Carolina has been a No. 1 seed in a Regional since 2002. They had previously hosted in 2007 as a No. 4 seed, but have not reached the College World Series since 1997.
Greensboro maintained a 46-11 record during regular season play and a 25-3 record in home games. Following a sweep in the Southern Conference Championship with wins against No. 4 Chattanooga and No. 6 Eastern Tennessee State, they had been undefeated since a loss on May 6th to Samford In Birmingham, Ala.
South Carolina freshman pitcher Kelsey Oh threw 104 pitches over the course of all seven innings of action and faced 24 batters with a 1.75 ERA. With her victory tonight, she tossed a career-high 13 strikeouts, which is the most for any Carolina pitcher this year.
Despite Oh appearing “out of sync” early in the game according South Carolina head coach Beverly Smith, she began to improve as time went on throughout the evening after getting back into her rhythm.
“It was a little bit surprising,” Smith said. “Her nerves, but maybe it was so many people in the stands and being here for postseason, but Kelsey Oh’s a competitor and she made the adjustments. Her having 13 strikeouts today was big time. I think she recovered well, I think she was just a little nervous in that first inning."
In the bottom of the second before the rain delay commenced at 9:30 p.m., Jana Johns gave South Carolina their first run scored of the night. Shortly after play resumed at 11:30 p.m., Morgan Davis and Kennedy Clark each contributed two runs in the bottom of the third inning off a infield single from Johns.
“It’s honestly just an instinct,” Johns said. “I don’t really know what makes it happen but I just did it and it worked out. I was just trying to do whatever I could to get on base for our team.”
After securing a victory in their first game of the Columbia Regional, the Gamecocks have moved into the winner’s bracket of the Columbia Regional and will face Liberty University tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Beckham Field.