Feb. 15, 2003
Henderson, Nev. – South Carolina softball (7-3) suffered their second loss at the Las Vegas Invitational as they fell to No. 10 Cal State Fullerton (9-4) 6-1 Saturday evening. Stacey Johnson (3-1) recorded her first loss of the season while Jodie Cox improved to 3-3 for the Titans. Nancy Crane scored Carolina’s lone run in the third inning on a RBI ground out by Jodi Fittro.
The Gamecocks held a 1-0 lead over the Titans until the fifth inning when Fullerton scored four runs on two home runs off of Johnson who came in to relieve starter Melanie Henkes. Gina Oaks led off the fifth with a solo shot to tie the game 1-1. Three batters later, Amanda Hockett hit a three-run homer with no outs in the inning to give Fullerton a 4-1 lead.
South Carolina went down in order in the sixth before Fullerton added two more runs, and extended their lead to 6-1. In USC’s final at bat, third baseman Danielle Quinones led off the inning with a single, but that would be the final hit the Gamecocks would see for the evening. Quinones was eventually thrown out in a fielder’s choice ground out by Tia Rogers and Cox struck out Carolina’s final two batters to end the game.
The Gamecocks are now 2-2 at the tournament and 2-2 against ranked teams this season.
USC will wrap up play at the Las Vegas Invitational on Sunday morning when they face No. 4 Nebraska at 9 a.m.
