February 13, 2002
COLUMBIA, S.C. – 22nd-ranked South Carolina (4-2) pulled out 1-0 and 7-3 victories over Georgia Southern (0-6) to give head coach Joyce Compton her 900th and 901st career wins and making Megan Matthews Carolina’s all-time leader in career appearances with 156 and innings pitched with 896.2. Matthews (3-0) recorded 10 strikeouts and gave up three hits in her 34th career shutout.
The Gamecocks battled with the Eagles in game one as Georgia Southern pitcher Aimee Littlejohn (0-2) had a no-hitter going into the fifth inning before Tia Rogers singled to center field. USC led off the seventh inning with their second hit of the game but Littlejohn retired the next three batters to force the game into extra innings. In the tenth inning, Debralee Troesh led off with a walk then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Rogers then advanced to third on a fielder’s choice. With two outs, Troesh beat the throw home for the winning run, as junior Jodi Fittro reached first base on a fielder’s choice by the Eagles’ third base player Kim Griffin.
“You can’t ever assume anything. We have to remember to go out hard every time,” said Compton. “We struggled with the bats in the first game and were very lethargic at the plate. We started to pick things up in the second game when they scored. You hate that is has to be that way sometimes but I am glad they did respond and we started scoring.”
The offense came alive for the Gamecocks in game two, but not until they were down 1-0. In the fourth inning, Carolina scored three runs off of four hits to take control of the game. Georgia Southern was able to score another run off of a wild pitch by Stacey Johnson but Carolina answered back with four runs and five hits to go up 7-2 in the game. That would be all the Gamecocks needed as Johnson retired all three batters in the sixth to give USC a 7-3 win. Johnson (1-0) gave up three runs on five hits and recorded five strikeouts. The Eagles’ Crystal Crews fell to 0-3.
The Gamecocks return to action this weekend, Feb. 16-17 as they host the Gamecock Invitational. Carolina will play UAB at 3 p.m. and Tennessee Tech at 5 p.m. On Sunday, USC will face Jacksonville State at 3 p.m. and East Tennessee State at 5 p.m.
