Gamecocks want to replicate performance from weekend
The South Carolina softball team returns to Beckham Field to battle Winthrop (4-3) at 5 p.m. today for the second time in the two-week-old season.
After an up-and-down weekend that saw some bright spots, both at the plate and in the circle, the Gamecocks (6-3) will look to the comforts of their home field when they engage in their first nontournament game of the year.
South Carolina will look to come out red-hot against the Eagles and pick up where they left off on Sunday in Miami, where the women displayed a fairly inconsistent offensive output that lit up the scoreboard at times. In their final game of the tournament against Villanova, all of South Carolina’s starters recorded a hit and the team put 15 runs on the scoreboard.
Coach Beverly Smith hopes such a well-rounded performance at the plate can be replicated when playing Winthrop, against whom her team already posted a solid score two weekends ago.
Whether our girls are walking, getting hit by a pitch, getting a hard hit at-bat — those are different things that we consider to be quality at-bats, so we’re just looking for good pitches to hit,” Smith said. “Winthrop’s a very good team, and even though we face them a lot, every game’s a new ball game. And so, our kids just go in with the focus of having a quality at-bat every time, and we have found that the more quality team at-bats we’ve had, the more success we’ve had.”
On the other side of the ball, the squad had a similarly inconsistent performance defensively. The pitching staff did well to allow three runs or fewer in four of the five games, but their fielders recorded a total of six errors in the last three matches of their trip.
Even with the difficulties in the field, Smith won’t resort to shuffling or testing different lineups, especially when she has an offense capable of putting up big numbers.
“Every time we make out the lineup we’re trying to figure out how we’re going win the game,” Smith said. “We’re not being too experimental. It’s all about what it takes for us to win, and I think everybody trusts everybody on the team, so they know whoever we decided to put in the lineup, that’s the one we thought would win the ball game. But we have been able to get some people some at-bats, and I think we recognize the more at-bats and experience they can get in nonconference, the better it should pay off for us in-conference.”
Pitcher Kierstyn White has been the featured pitcher so far for the Gamecocks, already with five decisions in their nine games, including throwing the pitching staff’s third complete game of the season against Illinois-Chicago.
“I expect to see Kierstyn in the circle a lot,” Smith said. “She’s had some really solid performances, and she’s doing a good job getting a lot of ground ball outs for us. So, she’s done a really good job getting outs for the team.”
Should the Gamecocks find themselves in a close game during the closing innings, they have players throughout the lineup that can provide a spark. Seniors such as Kaitlin Westfall and Evan Childs have delivered in clutch situations so far this season, and even sophomore Chelsea Hawkins has taken part in the heroics.
If her team delivers in any clutch opportunities against Winthrop, Smith will not be surprised with who does so — senior leader or not.
“We’ve seen both,” Smith said. “Our freshmen have come up in big situations and they’re hitting well, and our underclassmen have been solid. But some of our clutch players have really been our seniors, and that’s what we want to see ... that leadership for our younger players.”