March 31, 2004
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 18 South Carolina Gamecocks suffered their sixth straight loss as they fell to the No. 12 Tennessee Lady Vols, 5-1. USC falls to 17-11 overall and 6-9 in the SEC. Nancy Crane went 2-for-3 and scored the Gamecocks lone run. Melanie Henkes took the loss and fell to 5-5.
Nancy Crane led the game off with a single to left field to record USC’s first hit of the game. Crane was able to advance to second on a sacrifice bunt by Samantha Jennings but that would be as far as Crane would make it in the inning as Abbott retired the Gamecocks next two batters.
Henkes pitched three and two-thirds scoreless innings before Tennessee jumped on the board. With two outs, Amber Rhinehart singled for UT’s third hit of the game and Brewer followed with her second home run of the series to put the Lady Vols up 2-0.
In the sixth inning, Crane led off the inning with a single to right field and Jennings then followed with a single up the middle to give USC two base runners at a time during the game. The runners advanced to second and third on a sac bunt by Amber Curtis. The Gamecocks were able to score Crane and cut the lead in half when Kristin Hall grounded out to short for the RBI. The run was the first allowed by Abbott in 39.2 innings.
In the bottom half of the inning, Kristin Durant led off with a single but Kristin Hall, Amber Curtis and Meghan Cornett turned an outstanding double play to clear the bases and record two outs. Henkes would then walk the next two UT batters before Stacey Johnson entered the game to attempt to get USC out of the inning. Then on a 1-1 count, UT’s Jennings hit a triple to centerfield to score pinch runner Ashley Cline and Angela Brewer and put the Lady Vols up 4-1. UT added another run when Jennings scored on an RBI-single by Kathryn Card.
Team 123 456 7 R H EUSC 000 001 0 1 3 1Tenn 000 200 3 5 7 0
WP – Abbott (30-4)
LP – Henkes (5-5)
