Gamecocks Drop Finale At Florida
Carolina brought winning run to the plate in top of the seventh
GAINESVILLE, Fla. —- South Carolina softball had the winning run at the plate in the top of the seventh before No. 3 Florida secured the 4-2 victory on Sunday in the series finale. In a pinch-hit situation, Chooch Carroll cut the lead in half with a one-out double that pushed the Gamecocks’ second run across in the final frame.
Carolina eventually had runners on first and second with one out after a Florida error in the infield before Kaite Chronsiter secured her fifth save of the season in 1.1 innings of work.
Rachel Vaughan (2-2) earned her first career SEC start Sunday. She allowed just one earned run in 11 batters faced. Kelsey Oh posted 1.2 innings of relief with one run on no hits. Cayla Drotar also came on in 2.2 innings of relief with just one hit allowed and no runs.
Jordan Fabian and Aaliyah White both posted a 2-for-3 afternoon. Fabian blasted a solo home run in the top of the fourth to score Carolina’s first run of the afternoon. Kassidy Krupit, Riley Blampied and Carroll had the other two South Carolina hits.
Following her Saturday night win, Natalie Lugo (13-1) was outstanding again in her afternoon start for the Gators. She went 5.2 innings with one run on five hits with four strikeouts.
South Carolina is one of just three teams this season (No. 9 Kentucky and No. 23 UCF) to earn a win at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
The Gamecocks will return home next week to honor its six seniors (Kenzi Maguire, Mackenzie Boesel, Cayla Drotar, Anna Vest, Alyssa Kumiyama and Alex Fulmer) over the course of its three-game series against Mississippi State.
