In the second day of action at the 2018 NCAA Softball Regional in Columbia, the Gamecocks defeated the Hofstra University Pride and fell to the Liberty University Flames.
Liberty (3) vs. South Carolina (1)
In their first game of the afternoon, South Carolina started right-handed pitcher Cayla Drotar (20-5) after Kelsey Oh played Friday night against UNC-Greensboro. Drotar recorded a 2.13 ERA and faced 17 batters in three innings.
Liberty (49-12) started scoring runs off early, with a single from Sarah Robinson to Jaclyn Amader to right field in the bottom of the first, which ultimately secured their 3-1 win over the Gamecocks. In the bottom of the third, the Flames struck again, with Amber Bishop scoring to put her team up 2-0 on South Carolina.
To close out Liberty’s scoring in the fifth, Madison Via doubled to third base for Sarah Robinson to give the Flames some insurance moving forward in the game.
In the top of the seventh, Jana Johns contributed one run for South Carolina.
"Certainly that wasn't the game we wanted to come out and play today," South Carolina head coach Beverly Smith said. "But the great part of it is, our season's not over. We're just going to take a different path to get back for the opportunity to play on Sunday."
South Carolina (5) vs. Hofstra (4)
However, the tables soon turned for South Carolina. After facing elimination, the Gamecocks went up against the Hofstra Pride in their second game in just two hours and it was filled with excitement.
That excitement wasn’t only held within the South Carolina players, but also by head coach Beverly Smith, who helped lead the 5-4 win over Hofstra.
“I might have to see a replay ... I was just jumping up and down and screaming,” Smith said. “You know, immediately tears come to your eyes ... you're just so happy for the team ... all of us knew her dad very well."
Krystan White had a walk-off home run to send the Gamecocks to the regional championship round in the bottom of the seventh inning. In addition to White’s home run, the Gamecocks have reached their highest win total in a single season since 1999 with 47.
Following South Carolina’s first loss of the tournament to Liberty, Hofstra and UNC-Greensboro played in the fourth game of the Columbia Regional to determine who South Carolina would play next and who will be the first team eliminated.
Hofstra's freshman right-handed pitcher Sophie Dandola (1.80 ERA, 18-5) threw for a perfect 56-pitch no-hitter which geared the Pride towards a 6-0 victory over the UNCG Spartans Saturday afternoon before facing the Gamecocks.
“I just felt on,” Dandola said. “I felt that I threw my best stuff, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the team behind me, so it’s really a team effort in every sense.”
Dandola started once again for the Pride against USC, while South Carolina sent sophomore Cayla Drotar (2.18 ERA, 20-6) in the circle.
In the bottom of the first inning, Drotar recorded a home run with a hit over the center-field wall to give USC a 2-0 lead. The Gamecocks struck for one run in the second inning to extend their lead to 3-0.
The Pride began to strike back in the fourth inning as first baseman Brittany Allocca got a solo home run to cut Carolina’s lead to 3-1. In the top of the fifth, Hofstra’s Nikki Michalowski sent the ball well beyond the right-field wall and brought the Pride within one, at a score of 3-2.
South Carolina soon pulled Drotar out after five innings and Kelsey Oh stepped in to pitch the sixth. Oh faced five batters with a 2.04 ERA, and for the seventh inning, Smith sent Dixie Raley in to finish the game.
Both Hofstra and Greensboro were familiar teams to South Carolina, as Hofstra was defeated by the Gamecocks twice in the 2018 FIU Fellsberg Invitational in Miami, Florida. On Feb. 9 Hofstra lost 2-4 and on Feb. 10 they lost 0-11 in six innings .
With a loss and a victory on Saturday, South Carolina will face Liberty at 4 p.m. in the championship round of the Columbia Regional. If the Gamecocks defeat Liberty, a tiebreaker matchup will be played at 6:30 p.m. The winner of the next few games will advance to the Super Regional from May 24 to 27.