Gamecocks Take Series Over Ranked UCF

COLUMBIA, S.C. —- No. 24 South Carolina secured a series win over No. 20 UCF with a pair of victories Saturday at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field. The Gamecocks run-ruled the Knights in the first game, 9-1, before closing the day with a 4-2 win to take their first series over a top-20 team since 2019.
 
As a team, Carolina hit .333 between the two games on 14 hits with 12 free bases earned on its way to a .491 on-base percentage. Jordan Fabian led the way with four RBI on the day while Cayla Drotar and Kenzi Maguire had two, each.
 
Kelsey Oh (2-4) and Leah Powell (5-0) earned the wins in the circle as the duo held the UCF hitters to just two earned runs.
 
SOUTH CAROLINA 9 | UCF 1 (5) – RECAP
South Carolina (17-6) started the day with a commanding 9-1 run-rule victory in five innings over No. 20 UCF (18-6). The Knights took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but a run in the bottom frame and three more in the bottom of the fourth gave the Gamecocks the 4-1 lead it wouldn’t surrender.
 
Carolina posted five more runs in the fifth, thanks to Alyssa Kumiyama, Kenzi Maguire and Jordan Fabian RBI, to earn its 11^th run-rule victory of the season. Fabian’s RBI single to score two in the inning proved to be the final difference maker.
 
Katie Prebble started the scoring in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1-1 before Chooch Carroll continued it in the bottom of the fourth with a pinch hit, one-out single to push the lead to 2-1. Fabian later singled in the same frame to score two to give the Garnet and Black a 4-1 lead through four innings of play.
 
Kelsey Oh (2-4) earned the win in the circle. She went all five innings with just four hits allowed and one run. She allowed just one free base.
 
Fabian finished the game 2-for-3 with four RBI while Maguire, Prebble, Aaliyah White, Maddie Gallagher and Carroll added hits, as well.
 
SOUTH CAROLINA 4 | UCF 2 – RECAP
The Gamecocks kept the momentum going in the second game as they secured the series with a 4-2 win over No. 20 UCF. Cayla Drotar’s two-run home run in the bottom of the second and two more runs in the fourth proved to be the difference as South Carolina handed Alea White (8-1) her first loss of the year in the circle.
 
Leah Powell (5-0) earned the win. She went all seven innings with just one earned run allowed.
 
Mackenzie Boesel posted a 2-for-3 performance, as did Drotar. Drotar finished with a team-best two RBI in the game while Kassidy Krupit, Aaliyah White and Maddie Gallagher added hits.

NOTABLE

• With the two wins, Carolina earned its first series win over a ranked foe since it took down No. 12 Auburn on April 14, 2019. Tiger Woods notably won The Masters shortly after first pitch in Auburn.
• The Gamecocks improved to 4-0 on the week with the wins. Carolina has outscored its foes 33-7 (+26) in the four games with 30 free bases earned and a .537 on-base percentage.
• Three different pitchers (Karsen Ochs, Leah Powell and Kelsey Oh) have earned wins this week in 22.0 innings of work.
• Kassidy Krupit has posted a team-best six RBI this week while Chooch Carroll, Kenzi Maguire and Jordan Fabian each have five.
• South Carolina has played 23 games this year. 11 (48 percent) have ended in run-rule wins for Carolina.