Senior outfielder Kaitlin Westfall named MVP
The South Carolina softball team played their way to a 3-1 record to start the year, as it hosted, and ultimately won, the Palmetto Classic Tournament.
In their first official action of the season, the Gamecocks looked shaky at the start of Friday’s game against Tennessee State.
The bottom of the first inning saw the Tigers go up early after some mistakes by the South Carolina defense. After TSU’s leadoff hitter reached base, two throwing errors allowed her to move all they way to home plate.
Later in the inning, South Carolina pitcher Kierstyn White delivered an illegal pitch, which allowed another TSU run, putting the Gamecocks behind by two.
Coach Beverly Smith didn’t worry too much about the early mistakes.
“I think it was just first-game jitters,” Smith said, “because that wasn’t the team that’s been out at practice every day for us, so I think the girls just needed to shake some of that.”
South Carolina rebounded in the next half inning, as catcher Shelby Gonzales knocked in two runs on a single and tied the game; however, Tennessee State immediately put another two-spot on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning, and the Gamecocks’ offense couldn’t muster up another run as they dropped their opener, 4-2.
Day two of the Palmetto Classic, more fortuitous than the day before, saw South Carolina sweep a doubleheader.
First up on Saturday, the Gamecocks took on Western Kentucky, who wasted no time in putting up two runs in the top of the first before senior outfielder Kaitlin Westfall took over.
The Gamecocks tallied a run in the fifth, and Westfall added another in the sixth, courtesy of her RBI triple, which pushed the game into extra innings after a scoreless seventh. After her team fell behind 4-2 in the top of the eighth, Westfall had seen enough.
With one out and runners on first and third in the bottom of the eighth inning, she shot a double to centerfield and tied the game once again. Two batters later, sophomore Dana Hathorn singled and Westfall, who was named the tournament MVP, scored the winning run from third, giving the Gamecocks a 5-4 comeback victory — their first of the 2012 season.
Redshirt junior pitcher Audrey Broyles pitched a complete game, allowing four earned runs — two in the first and two in the eighth — in a performance that Smith appreciated.
“I thought Audrey Broyles did a super job yesterday against a very aggressive Western Kentucky team,” Smith said. “She had command over multiple pitches, she had seven strikeouts, I believe, so she did a super job throwing the complete game against them, which was great.”
Luckily for South Carolina, the momentum from the early game’s heroics carried them through their late game against in-state rival Winthrop.
The Gamecocks refused to play from behind as they had in their first two games, and put up four runs in the top of the first, with Westfall bringing home the game’s first run. The rest came easy for South Carolina, as sophomore outfielder Chelsea Hawkins blasted her first home run of the season and drove in four runs to lead the team to a convincing 8-1 victory over the Eagles.
Smith was satisfied with the way everyone contributed to the team’s victories.
“For us it’s all about what we’re going to get done as a team,” Smith said. “I thought the girls that came off the bench did their job, as well as our starters, and it all worked really well together. I was proud of our team effort.”
In their final matchup of the busy weekend, the Gamecocks came out red-hot in icy weather against Cleveland State.
After each team posted a run in the first inning, South Carolina broke it open in the third and never looked back. The team put four runs on the board in the inning, the first of which was commissioned solely by Gonzalez, who doubled and then flew around the base paths, stealing third and then crossing the plate due to a throwing error.
Three batters later, senior third baseman Evan Childs ripped a two-run homer over the left field wall. Cleveland State threatened in the sixth, recording a desperate home run that scored three Vikings, but freshman Katelynn Howser came in to pitch after the homer and controlled the next two innings, bringing home the Gamecocks’ third win, 7-4.
The big plays by her seniors, Westfall and Childs, were something Smith liked to see.
“Westfall and Childs both had a big tournament for us,” Smith said. “That’s what we need. They’re both seniors, they’re both experienced players and we need them to step up in clutch situations, and they did that.”