March 24, 2002

BATON ROUGE, La. – The 24th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks (21-11, 4-5 SEC) fell for the third time to the 5th-ranked Louisiana State University Tigers (24-7, 9-2 SEC) 1-0 Sunday afternoon in an intense defensive struggle.

Both teams sent their ace pitchers to the mound in the showdown that saw only 9 hits between the two teams and only 5 base runners each during the whole game. LSU’s star pitcher, Britni Sneed (13-4), pitched herself out of a dangerous spot early in the first inning, when South Carolina’s Jodi Fittro and Kim Evans both singled to lead off the game. They both then advanced on a wild pitch. Sneed, however, settled down and got the next batter, Amber Curtis, to ground out to first base and then struck out Debralee Troesh and Meghan Cornett to end the inning for the Gamecocks.

South Carolina would get two more hits in the game: another single by Evans in the third and a Cornett single in the seventh. That was the only offense that the Gamecocks would put up for the afternoon as Sneed struck out 13 batters in the game and allowed no runs on four hits.

The only Tiger run came in the third inning as LSU’s Treena Peel tripled to right field and then scored on a wild pitch. USC pitcher Megan Mathews (12-4) gave up the run and allowed only five Tiger hits.

The Gamecocks will next be in action at home to take on East Tennessee State University on Wednesday, March 27 at 3:00 p.m.