April 24, 2004
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Sophomore pitcher Melanie Henkes recorded her third SEC victory of the year as she led South Carolina softball to a 2-1 win over Ole Miss in game two of the Saturday doubleheader. Henkes, who picked up her first SEC win since the Arkansas series, improved to a .500 overall record and is 7-7 for the year.
Henkes pitched seven innings, struck out seven batters and gave up one run on three hits. The Gamecocks recorded two runs on five hits off of starter Dana Brill, who fell to 4-17 for the year. The win also guarantees USC a spot in the SEC Tournament. USC improves to 25-19 and 12-17 in the SEC while Ole Miss falls to 14-35 and 7-19 in the SEC.
Meghan Cornett drove in USC’s runs with her only hit of the day, a two-RBI single, in the fifth inning. Freshman Chrissy Schoonmaker led off the inning with a walk and Margaret Person reached on a throwing error by Ole Miss catcher DeDe Justice. A double steal advanced the runners to second and third with one out. After a fly out for the second out, Cornett then stepped to the plate and delivered a hard drive to right center field to bring home Schoonmaker and Person.
In the sixth inning, Ole Miss lead-off batter Britte Hardy struck out swinging but was safe due to a wild pitch. Hardy advanced to second on a sacrifice hit and with two outs, Mandy Ott singled to right field to score Hardy and cut USC’s lead in half 2-1.
The Gamecocks held Ole Miss to just the one run and in the seventh inning, Henkes recorded a three-up, three-down inning, including two strike outs, to end the game and claim the victory for the Gamecocks.
The series will conclude Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. with the game being USC’s final conference game of the regular season. Sunday is also Senior Day as the USC Athletics Department will recognize the five Gamecock softball seniors: Nancy Crane, Amber Curtis, Samantha Jennings, Stacey Johnson and Melissa Sandel, before the game.
