April 14, 2007
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Becky Martinez hit an RBI single in the tenth inning to score Adele Voigt and carry the South Carolina Gamecocks to a 1-0 victory over the Georgia Bulldogs for the doubleheader sweep Saturday afternoon at Beckham Field. The Gamecocks held the Bulldogs scoreless on the day after winning game one 5-0. Kate Pouliot was the starting pitcher and threw an impressive nine innings, her longest outing of the season, but Melissa Hendon entered in the tenth to relieve Pouliot and picked up the win and improved to 13-10. Hendon has won her last three of four outings.
Pouliot faced 35 batters and allowed only five hits and struck out eight in her valiant nine-inning effort. With the win, the Gamecocks improve to 28-15 and 6-10 in the SEC, while Georgia moves to 33-21 and 5-11 in the SEC. Kasi Carroll took the loss for the Bulldogs and pitched 9.1 innings and gave up one run on seven hits and registered seven strikeouts. Carroll is now 19-6. The series win now moves South Carolina to third in the SEC East behind No. 1 Tennessee and No. 22 Florida.
Hendon entered the game in the tenth to change up the pitching for the Gamecocks. She retired all three batters she faced and the Bulldogs were unable to move its base runner from second.
In the bottom half of the inning, Voigt, who was placed on second due to the International Tie-Breaker rule, advanced to third on a fielder’s choice by Jessica Josker with one out. Next up to the plate was Lindsay Walker and the Bulldogs elected to intentionally walk the freshman shortstop for the second time in the game, and loaded the bases for the Gamecocks. Martinez then stepped forward and hit a sharp single to left field and drove in Voigt from third for the winning run.
The Gamecocks had a chance to score in the ninth with the bases loaded and two outs, but Voigt grounded out to third to end the inning and forced the game into the tenth. Carolina also had a runner on third in the fifth but was unsuccessful in driving the run home.
Martinez and Hughes both went 2-for-5 and Voigt, Ashton Payne and Walker accounted for the remaining Gamecock hits. Chelsea Cantillo went 2-for-5 for the Bulldogs while Sojourner Moody, Melissa Wood and Charvi Greer recorded Georgia’s remaining hits.
The Gamecocks are now 3-1 in extra-inning games this season. This marks their second 10-inning game of the year. It also marks the first series win over Georgia since 2004. The series will conclude Sunday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. (ET).
South Carolina 1, Georgia 0 (Apr 14, 2007 at Columbia, S.C.) (Game 2)
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Georgia…………. 000 000 000 0 – 0 5 2 (33-21, 5-11)
South Carolina…… 000 000 000 1 – 1 7 2 (28-15, 6-10)
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Pitchers: Georgia – Kasi Carroll. South Carolina – Kate Pouliot; Melissa Hendon(10).
Win-Melissa Hendon(13-10) Loss-Kasi Carroll(19-6) T-2:24 A-587
