South Carolina's sluggish offense leads to elimination in the SEC Softball Tournament

The final chance for the Gamecocks to strengthen their resume for the NCAA tournament ended short after falling to Ole Miss 2-0 in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Tuesday.

This loss marks the first loss for South Carolina (30-26, 7-17 SEC) in its opening game of the conference tournament in the last four seasons.

Ole Miss set the tone early in the game. On just the second at-bat of the afternoon, and her first, Persy Llamas sends one over left field to give the Rebels an early 1-0 lead. USC pitcher Jori Heard tightened up after the homer, keeping the Rebels scoreless until the top of the fifth.

South Carolina was unable to gain any ground through the Ole Miss scoring drought. Quincee Lilio showed some signs of life for USC after a single in the bottom of the first, but Ole Miss pitcher Emilee Boyer picked up her play after that.

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Boyer was aggressive and worked USC better all afternoon, throwing 73 strikes on 100 pitches with six strikeouts.

After a strong start to the game, Heard started to slip in the fifth. Tenly Grisham logged a single, and the kill shot came right after. Taylor Malvin dropped one deep into left-center to send Grisham home for an RBI double, increasing the Rebel lead to 2-0.

Heard’s afternoon would conclude after six innings. The righty veteran concluded her afternoon, tossing 65 pitches with 50 of them being strikes. She also added a pair of strikeouts to her final line.

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In what felt like desperation mode, the Gamecocks had a late-game surge in the bottom of the sixth. After back-to-back hits from Karley Shelton and Jamie Mackay, there was a subtle change of momentum. With two runners on, the Rebel defense got right back to work, getting Arianna Rodi to ground out to end the threat and come up empty.

South Carolina went down in order in the seventh, ending its short stint on the first day of the tournament.

Up next: South Carolina will now await its NCAA Tournament fate. Selection Sunday for the full bracket will be on May 10 at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

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