Softball Splits Opening Day In Jacksonville

JACKONSVILLE, Fla. —- No. 19 South Carolina softball split its opening day doubleheader against Auburn and Jacksonville on Saturday at UNF. Carolina dropped a 5-4 game to the Tigers in the first game of the 2021 season before closing the day with a 10-0 win over the Dolphins.
 
The day was highlighted with Bailey Betenbaugh’s complete-game shutout against Jacksonville with seven strikeouts. Making her Carolina debut, Carlie Henderson produced at the plate with a 4-for-4 performance against the Dolphins while Kassidy Krupit went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a home run.
 
In total, six Gamecocks (1-1, 0-0 SEC) made their South Carolina debut on Saturday (Aaliyah White, Carly Robbins, Kylee Gleason, Henderson, Maddie Gallagher and Riley Blampied) while four had their first collegiate hit (Henderson, White, Gleason and Blampied).
 
The game against Auburn will not count toward SEC standings.
 
AUBURN 5 CAROLINA | 4 RECAP
 
South Carolina opened its 2021 season with a chance to win thanks to a bases loaded and two-out situation in a one-run game against Auburn in the bottom of the seventh but eventually fell 5-4 to the Tigers at UNF. Kassidy Krupit gave Carolina life in the frame with an RBI single to cut the deficit to one before a strikeout gave the Tigers the victory.
 
Krupit shined at the plate all afternoon, posting a 2-for-3 performance with three RBI. She started the afternoon with a two-RBI double in the bottom of the first to give the Gamecocks an early 2-0 lead through one.
 
Auburn responded with a run in the second and three in the third to take a 4-2 lead into the fourth inning. Carolina posted a run in the fourth thanks to Aaliyah White’s RBI single before the Tigers posted an addition run in the sixth to head to the seventh with a 5-3 lead.
 
Three Gamecocks finished with hits in the game as White, Krupit and Kylee Gleason each finished with two.
 
Kelsey Oh (0-1) took the loss in the circle.
 
SOUTH CAROLINA 10 | JACKSONVILLE 0 RECAP
 
The Gamecocks responded well in the second game of the day, posting six runs in the second inning on their way to a commanding 10-0 win over Jacksonville at UNF. Bailey Betenbaugh (1-0) shined in the circle going all seven innings in the complete-game shutout performance with seven strikeouts and just six hits.
 
Carolina had three freshmen (Riley Blampied, Maddie Gallagher and Carlie Henderson) make their debut as the trio combined to go 5-for-8 with five runs, four walks and two RBI.
 
Kassidy Krupit shined, as well, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a home run.
 
South Carolina opened the scoring in the second with six runs as it sent 12 batters to plate in the frame. Carolina posted four hits and was helped with five walks to take a 6-0 lead through two.
 
Krupit continued the scoring in the top of the fourth with a solo shot to extend the lead to 7-0.
 
Three runs in the top of the seventh thanks to a Kenzi Maguire RBI, Mackenzie Boesel double and Katie Prebble single extended the Carolina lead to 10-0 before Betenbaugh closed out the game in the bottom frame.
 
Six different Gamecocks posted hits in the contest while four (Boesel, Prebble, Krupit and Henderson) had multi-hit contests.
 
NOTABLES

• With two hit by pitches in the second game of the day, graduate student Kenzi Maguire tied the school record for hit by pitches in a career with 60.
• Carlie Henderson posted a 4-for-4 performance against Jacksonville. She finished the game one hit shy of tying the school record for hits in a game.
• South Carolina is now 1-1 all-time in the city of Jacksonville.
• Carolina is now 334-222 under the direction of head coach Beverly Smith.