April 9, 2003

Athens, Ga. – No. 15 South Carolina suffered its second SEC series loss of the season as the Gamecocks fell to No. 10 Georgia 10-2 in six innings. Carolina (28-12, 12-7 SEC) scored two runs off of six hits to prevent a shutout, and gave up 10 runs on 14 hits to Georgia (41-7, 16-4 SEC). Aleca Johnson (3-4) recorded the loss for USC while Michelle Green (30-4) picked up the win for UGA. Danielle Quinones and Meghan Cornett each had two of Carolina’s six hits, while Kristin Hall and Kim Evans accounted for the other two.

Down 2-0 in the third, Carolina cut Georgia’s lead in half when Kristin Hall, who singled to lead off the inning, scored on a sacrifice fly by Jodi Fittro. A lead-off walk by Quinones and an RBI-double by Cornett would tie the game 2-2 but Cornett was then picked off in a rundown play at second base for the first out of the inning. Nancy Crane walked to give USC another base runner but Johnson and Hall both struck out to end the inning.

The Gamecocks tried again in the fifth to take the lead as Evans led off with a single, but Green struck out the next three batters to get her 300th strikeout of the year and prevented Carolina from scoring.

Georgia did all of its damage in the fifth when they exploded with six runs to take a 9-2 lead. The Bulldogs used two home runs and three stolen bases to extend the lead. Carolina attempted another rally and led off the sixth with back-to-back hits by Quinones and Cornett, but Green struck again and with one out, struck out the next two Carolina batters.

In the bottom of the sixth, Green ended the game on her terms as she homered to left center field for the walk-off win and the 10-2 mercy-rule decision.

The final game of the series will be played Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Women’s Athletic Complex in Athens.