April 3, 2005
Lexington, Ky. – South Carolina softball used three home runs to score seven of their 10 runs and defeated the Kentucky Wildcats 10-1 to sweep the Sunday doubleheader. Aleca Johnson recorded the win and improved to 4-2 while Meghan Cooper fell to 5-13. USC is now 24-14 and 7-5 in the SEC. Kentucky falls to 15-29 and 2-15 in the conference. Jessica Josker went 3-for-4 with two RBIs while Ashley Smith and Meghan Cornett both went 2-for-3 at the plate. McKenna Hughes, Stefanie Norman and Becky Martinez all hit home runs for the Gamecocks.
USC struck in the second inning with four runs scored off of six hits, including a two-run home run by Becky Martinez, her third of the season. That gave the Gamecocks a 4-0 lead in the game. Pinch runner Whitney Wierzbicki scored on an RBI-single by Chrissy Schoonmaker and Schoonmaker scored on the home run by Martinez. Lisa Longo then singled to keep the inning going, stole second and eventually scored on an RBI single by Jessica Josker.
UK prevented the shutout in the bottom half of the inning as Lori Melchi hit an RBI-single to score Jessica Nance.
USC exploded in the fifth inning and tacked on six more runs to extend its lead. McKenna Hughes, who entered the inning 0-5 on the day, hit her eighth home run of the season, a three-run homer to put the Gamecocks up 7-1. Stefanie Norman then followed with a two-run home run, the third of the game for the Gamecocks, and gave South Carolina a 9-1 lead. Josker then capped it off by recording her second hit of the inning and drove in Margaret Person to give the Gamecocks the 10-1 lead.
Johnson came back in the bottom of the fifth and gave up a one-out walk but then forced two pop outs to end the game in five innings.
The wins put the Gamecocks two games over .500 in the SEC and it marked the second straight game USC recorded 10-plus runs in the game.
Team 123 45 R H E
USC 040 06 10 12 0
UK 010 00 1 7 1
WP: Johnson (4-2)
LP: Cooper (5-13)
