Feb. 10, 2005

Tempe, Ariz. – South Carolina softball will travel to Tempe, Ariz. for their first road trip of the season as they compete in the Kajikawa Tournament hosted by Arizona State University Feb. 11-13. USC is set to take on their first ranked opponent of the season in No. 25 Cal State Fullerton at 2:15 p.m. (ET). The 5-1 Gamecocks will follow with a game against Utah State at 4:30 p.m. (ET) to round out the first day of play. Carolina is scheduled to play two ranked teams this weekend.

The Gamecocks are coming off of a doubleheader sweep over Charlotte earlier in the week. Pitcher Melanie Henkes lead USC with a 3-0 record while Jessica Barnes is 2-0. Henkes has thrown three complete game shutouts so far this season. At the plate, USC is led by Meghan Cornett, who enters the weekend with a .579 batting average.

This marks the sixth meeting between the Gamecocks and Fullerton. Fullerton leads the series 0-5 and in the last meeting in 2003, Fullerton won 6-1. The Titans are 2-2 so far this season and is coming off of win over No. 16 Georgia and a loss to No. 3 UCLA.

On Saturday, the Gamecocks will meet No. 1 Arizona and Umass. In those series, Arizona leads 5-2 and USC leads UMass 8-1-1. Carolina will close out tournament play on Sunday with a 12:30 p.m. (ET) game against Nevada.

Going into the weekend, USC has outscored it opponents 31-5 and Gamecock pitchers have given up 20 hits in 41 innings pitched. The team ERA is 0.85 while the team batting average is .337.

Freshmen Lisa Longo, Becky Martinez and Jessica Josker have combined for 22 of USC’s 57 total hits so far this season for a .379 batting average.