Tuesday’s doubleheader against Charleston Southern was a case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Tuesday saw what looked like two completely different teams playing back to back. In Game 1 the Gamecocks were held to two hits and were shut out by the Buccaneers 2-0. Then in Game 2, South Carolina beat Charleston Southern 11-2.
Charleston Southern came into Game 1 never having won a game in Columbia before. That didn’t matter to Buccaneer pitcher Morgan Dowdy, who pitched a complete game allowing only two hits and fanning nine Gamecocks.
“It was all about the quality at-bats we were taking,” said head coach Beverly Smith. “We had nine in the first game and 20 in the second. There was a huge difference in the pitches we swung at and the mentality we took between the two games.”
As a team, South Carolina went 2-for-24 in Game 1, which was its worst of the season.
“The first game shouldn’t have happened,” said senior third baseman Evan Childs. “We were timid the first game. We let a lot of pitches go and chasing what she was giving us. We need to have our at-bats, not the other teams.”
Kierstyn White pitched all seven innings and allowing two runs on five hits. Without any run support, White registered her third loss of the season.
The third inning of Game 1 looked hopeful when Garcia hit a double to lead off the inning. A sac bunt by Lackey, a single by Kaitlin Westfall and a walk by Childs to load the bases followed Garcia’s leadoff double. However, Dowdy proved why she was the Buccaneers’ ace by grounding out the next two batters to escape the inning.
“Our team is really good at fighting back,” right-fielder Chelsea Hawkins. “We’re a team if we are down by one run; we always keep the fight in us and we always keep our heart in the game.”
Game 2 was a different ball game for South Carolina. With undefeated starter Katelynn Howser in the circle and a new team mentality, the Gamecocks were ready to forget what had taken place just minutes earlier.
South Carolina didn’t waste time putting runs on the board in Game 2. Garcia and Lackey got on base with consecutive singles before South Carolina’s biggest inning got underway. Childs singled up the middle to bring in Garcia. Dana Hathorn then brought in Lackey with an infield hit, and Hawkins finished it all off with a double into right to bring in Childs and Westfall to put South Carolina up 4-0 after one inning of play.
“We just got really mad,” Childs said. “In our team huddle, coach told us to put a fire under our butt, and we corrected things in the cage and had the right mentality when we came back out.
South Carolina didn’t look back after the first inning of Game 2. The Gamecocks scored at least two runs in every inning until the eight-run rule was called in the fifth. In the second inning, Garcia led off the inning with her third home run of the season. Childs brought in Lackey with a sac fly and Garcia also extended her hitting streak to 14 games this season. The third saw another lead off home run, this time by Hawkins. After Westfall was walked, Molly Brossart hit a two-run homer to put South Carolina up 9-1.
“We came prepared in the second game,” Hawkins said. “We attacked more first pitches and just attacked more overall in the second game.”
USC responded to the Buccaneers’ lone fourth-inning run with a two-run homer by Childs. Childs had a team-high four RBIs in Game 2 alone.
Defensively, the Gamecocks committed no errors and were led by Howser’s fourth win of the season. The freshman has yet to lose a game, but still continues to struggle with her control, as she has walked 24 batters so far this season.
“She needs to have the confidence in her pitches to get ahead in the count,” Smith said. “She needs to attack the plate because we have proven when batter hits the ball we can field it, but you can’t defend walks. So, we have got to get better at making these other teams earn it and not put them on for free.”