Carolina Drops Series At Georgia
Gamecocks hit the road Tuesday for midweek
ATHENS, Ga. —- No. 15 South Carolina softball dropped an 11-3 rubber-match game in five innings to No. 13 Georgia on Sunday at Jack Turner Softball Stadium. Carolina opened the series with a Friday night win, but the Bulldogs responded with a pair of victories to take the series on the SEC’s opening weekend.
Karsen Ochs (4-3) earned her second start of the series as she took the loss in the circle. She went an inning with four runs on four hits. Rachel Vaughan made her first appearance of the year, as well, going two innings with three runs on two hits.
The Bulldog offense came alive early as they posted seven runs through the first two innings and never looked back. Georgia finished the day with nine hits.
Mackenzie Boesel launched her 28th career home run in the top of the third with a no-doubter over the wall in left field to cut the Georgia lead to 7-1. She’s now five homers away from tying Alaynie Page’s school record for home runs in a career.
Lauren Stewart blasted a two-run home run the following inning to cut the deficit, but it wasn’t enough as Georgia scored in three of the five innings. The Bulldogs posted two runs in the first, five in the second and four in the fifth to secure the series-clinching win.
Stewart led the way with two RBI while Boesel, Hannah Kumiyama and Anna Vest were responsible for the four Carolina hits.
UP NEXT
Carolina continues its four-game road swing on Tuesday when it travels to Coastal Carolina for a midweek contest. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 PM in Conway, S.C. The Gamecocks return home the following night, Wednesday, with a 6:00 PM first pitch against Winthrop. Live stats for both games will be on gamecocksonline.com while Wednesday’s game will be on SEC Network+.
SERIES NOTES
- Georgia now leads the all-time series 41-31 and holds a 23-9 advantage in Athens.
- All three available pitchers for Carolina saw action over the course of the weekend. The trio of Karsen Ochs, Karly Heath and Rachel Vaughan finished with 12 strikeouts and just one wild pitch.
- South Carolina will look back and know it had plenty of chances throughout the weekend as it stranded 26 runners on base in contrast to Georgia’s 15.
- Mackenzie Boesel and Katie Prebble led the Gamecocks with three hits throughout the weekend while Hannah Kumiyama had a team-best three RBI.
- Carolina took six Georgia natives home this weekend. Lauren Stewart (Alpharetta, Ga.), Jana Johns (Calhoun, Ga.), Haley Simpson (Cumming, Ga.), Karsen Ochs (Macon, Ga.), Rachel Vaughan (Senoia, Ga.) and Kassidy Krupit (Suwanee, Ga.) all returned to the Peach State and saw action this past weekend.
