Gamecock softball takes both games of Friday double-header

After going 3-2 in the Gamecock Invitational to begin the season last weekend, the No. 20 South Carolina softball team responded with a pair of wins to begin the Carolina Classic on Friday. 

The Gamecocks took the first game by run rule after five innings in a 9-1 final over Louisville, and followed it up with a 6-2 victory against Boston University. 

Game One

The Gamecocks rattled off eight unanswered runs in the final two innings, breaking up a 1-1 tie en route to the run-rule victory. The offensive display was impressive, but it was equally impressive the way the defense survived the pair of early-inning scares.

Through three innings, South Carolina’s tally in the hit column was only up to three. Tate Davis had the early signature hit for the Gamecocks, an RBI double in the bottom of the first. The ball jumped off the centerfield fence, just inches away from her first home run in garnet and black. 

“I don’t know if I got it, but honestly, it’s going to come. That’s what my teammates are telling me, to just focus on hitting the ball hard and do my job. And if that results in us scoring a run or two runs, I can’t be mad at that if I barrel the ball,” Davis said. 

It looked like the momentum was creeping towards South Carolina in the bottom of the third. Quincee Lilio dropped a perfect bunt and Karlee Shelton followed up with a bloop single to right field. Louisville responded by taking out starter Brooke Gray and bringing in Anna Wise, who survived two hard-hit outs to shut down the Gamecocks. 

The momentum began to take fruition in the fourth. Shea Anderson broke the tie with a squeeze bunt with two runners on. Tori Ensley scored from third. Quincee Lilio drove in the next run with a ground ball to shortstop. Anderson beat the tag at second base, allowing another runner to score. 

The bats exploded in the fifth. Madi Reeves came in to pitch for Louisville after the first two batters got on. A sacrifice fly from Ensley and a two-run home run from Lexi Winters, her first of the year, blew it wide open. 

Three more runners would cross the plate to clinch the run rule. Davis clinched the win with a bloop hit into right field. 11 batters came up to bat in the fifth. 

On the defensive side of things, the trend was escaping trouble. It began in the first inning when Julie Kelley, the Kentucky transfer, got the ball against her former in-state rival. 

Head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard made a mound visit just two batters into the game after a single and a four-pitch walk. Kelley allowed an earned run off the bat of Louisville catcher Bri Despines, but she settled in, and the bleeding stopped there. 

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Kelley’s day ended after getting five more outs and only allowing one more hit. In total, it was 2.2 innings, three hits, one walk, and one earned run. Josey Marron took the ball for Kelley, and much of the same troubles ensued in the top of the fourth. 

After a lead-off double by Louisville first baseman Camryn Lookadoo, a pair of groundouts got her to third base. Marron walked the next two Cardinals batters, and it was time for Chastain Woodard to go back to the bullpen. This time, she turned to her ace, Jori Heard. 

Heard escaped the bases loaded jam, and followed by pitching a 1-2-3 fifth inning to close out the game. 

“There’s bases loaded, two outs, there’s no one we want more to come in the game than Jori. So, it worked out for us,” Chastain Woodard said. 

Game Two

After a disastrous opening day performance against Virginia Tech last week, Emma Friedel entered the circle against Boston with a 7.74 earned run average through 6.1 innings. She turned that around with a gem of a performance, pitching five shutout innings and striking out six. 

After only striking out five in her four appearances from the previous weekend, Friedel was able to command the zone and get the better of the Terrier hitters. Friedel’s earned run average dropped from 7.74 to 3.00 after the outing. 

“We talk a lot about response. Obviously, opening night didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but really it’s just about responding for my teammates,” Friedel said. 

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South Carolina carried the offensive momentum into the second game of the day. In the second inning, Tori Ensley ripped a double into center field, scoring Tate Davis. Later in the inning, she came around to score from a passed ball. Quincee Lilio brought in another run in the next at-bat with an infield single, giving the Gamecocks an early 3-0 lead. 

The Gamecocks extended the lead in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single from Jamie Mackay, and Karlee Shelton deposited two more runs with a two-RBI triple in the bottom of the sixth. 

Freshman KJ Favors entered the game in the seventh to close it out, but found trouble. After walking two consecutive batters, second baseman Brooke Deppiesse drove one in with a double. 

Fellow freshman Ansley Bennett entered in relief after another walk. A wild pitch scored a runner to begin her outing, but Bennett struck out the final two Terriers to clinch the 6-2 win.

“We just want to put them in those situations now, to really learn a lot about them, to see how they are going to respond, to help them learn and grow,” Chastain Woodard said. 

The Gamecocks scored 15 runs on 20 hits to take both games. Tate Davis went 5-8 with an extra-base hit and two runs batted in. Karley Shelton drove in four runs, two in each game. 10 different Gamecocks recorded a base hit in game two, and the team only struck out twice all day. 

The Insiders Forum: Discuss South Carolina softball!