Gamecocks look to rebound from loss at UNC Wednesday
The South Carolina softball team fell 7-3 to No. 4 Florida on Sunday, completing a three-game sweep over the weekend for the Gators in front of a crowd of over 1,200 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville.
Florida (26-2, 7-1 SEC) was aided by two home runs, a solo shot from Lauren Haeger, and a two-run homer from Cheyenne Coyle. The Gamecocks (19-12, 2-6 SEC) made the game interesting in the seventh inning, when senior Evan Childs hit a two-run homer to cut the Gators’ lead to four. Sophomore Hannah Rogers was the winning pitcher for Florida, pitching four innings in relief. Gamecock senior centerfielder Lauren Lackey extended her hitting streak to 14 games. Haeger went 3-4 with three RBI for the Gators.
On Saturday, the Gators won a defensive battle 1-0, their lone run coming in the third inning when freshman Bailey Castro hit a two-out single to left, scoring Sami Fagan from second after she drew a walk. South Carolina out-hit Florida in the game 5-3. Haeger picked up the win for Florida, tossing five innings, giving up four hits, and striking out four. Gamecock starter Audrey Broyles took the loss, giving up one run on five walks and three hits
In the series opener on Friday, Florida won in a blowout, scoring six runs in the second en route to a 9-1 victory. Senior Kaela Jackson gave the Gamecocks their only run when she hit a double in the fourth, scoring Dana Hathorn. Florida ace Hannah Rogers got the win, giving up one run on four hits and striking out two, pitching a complete game. Sophomore Katelynn Howser took the loss for South Carolina, allowing six runs, two earned, on five hits and four walks in 1.2 innings.
Despite the sweep, Gamecock coach Beverly Smith was pleased with certain aspects of the weekend, especially the way her team fought in Saturday’s close game, commenting on the way the Gamecocks hit well, and Audrey Broyles’ pitching in a losing effort.
“We out-hit them on the day that we lost 1-0,” she said. “All we were missing was that one clutch hit or putting two hits together back to back. But we certainly put ourselves in the position the win the ballgame on Saturday.”
She said that the difference between Florida and South Carolina in Friday’s game and Sunday’s game was giving up runs and giving Florida scoring opportunities.
“The difference in the other two games was, we hit the ball, we hit their pitchers every day, we just gave up too many runs,” she said. “But I liked the way our team fought, I think our team knows now that they can go up against top level pitching and compete, because Florida’s pitchers are very good.”
Smith said that going forward, she’d like her team to improve on not giving the other team extra outs, and second chance opportunities to score.
“We gave up too many outs on the weekend,” she said. “Softball is a game of outs, and we gave them too many extra outs, whether it was on an error, passed ball, or a walk. That part of our game we really have to clean up, and really make our opponents work harder. We were facing a lot of really good hitters too many times.”
She was impressed by the comeback that South Carolina put together late in Sunday’s game and their hitting, despite leaving nine runners on base.
“I was proud of the hits we put together in the seventh inning; it might have been a different ballgame if we had gotten those earlier in the game”, she said of the final inning rally.
The Gamecocks travel to Chapel Hill Wednesday to take on North Carolina (20-8) for a midweek game, before returning to Columbia to host LSU for a weekend series.