Gamecocks look to win after upset defeat to Upstate
Despite dropping the final game of its four-game opening weekend, South Carolina's softball team isn't focused on the negative. It is heading into Wednesday's matchup against Winthrop keeping the positive in mind.
And despite the first loss of the season to USC Upstate in a 3-2 upset, there is a lot to be positive about, for a team that's rebuilding under new coach Beverly Smith.
"I felt the girls at the plate had some really good at-bats," Smith said of the play over the weekend. "We had some players come up with some key RBIs for us. We were putting the ball in play – putting pressure on the opposing pitcher all weekend. I was really impressed."
What stands out from the weekend, however, was not the offensive play of the team, but rather the defensive, as freshman pitcher Julie Sarratt pitched a no-hitter against Coastal Carolina in her collegiate debut, earning her SEC Freshman of the Week honors.
"I think it was about the fifth inning that I actually looked up on the scoreboard and saw there were no hits for Coastal," Smith said. "That's when I started to feel something special could be happening. To come out in your freshman debut and throw a no hitter is an amazing accomplishment."
Heading into the match-up against Winthrop, USC will need defense to stop the Eagles as they have scored at least 12 runs in each of their two victories. Furthermore, in Winthrop's losses, they were held to under five runs.
In their last game against Furman, the Eagles had five different players get at least one RBI, and designated hitter Chelsey Schoenfeldt racked up three. Another weapon for Winthrop is Taylor Wright, who was just named Big South Player of the Week after finishing the Palmetto State Showdown in Columbia with a .538 batting average, .692 slugging percentage, as well as a team-high of four runs and four RBIs.
"Winthrop's a very good team," Smith said. "Winthrop competes for the top of their conference every year. We had an opportunity to watch them some this weekend and so Winthrop's our next focus. We'll be out there preparing for them. They bring up seven lefties in their line-up, so it's a very lefty-dominated line-up. So I guarantee you our pitchers will be practicing tomorrow with the lefties."
As far as the loss to USC Upstate causing a slump in the upcoming games, Smith doesn't think it'll be an issue.
"After looking at the stats from the USC Upstate game, USC Upstate's a very good team — they've got an excellent pitcher, a senior pitcher who's very good," Smith said. "We did everything we needed to do to put ourselves in a position to win. We had base runners on all game — we left 11 on. We had players on the plate that we wanted at the plate with runners in scoring position. We just didn't get that hit."