April 13, 2006
CONWAY, S.C. – Meagan Johnson hit an RBI single to right field to drive in Glynn Tolleson for the winning run as the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers defeated South Carolina 6-5 in eight innings for the doubleheader sweep. South Carolina falls to 24-22 while Coastal improves to 28-19.
The tiebreaker rule went into effect in the eighth and Coastal’s Tolleson, who was placed at second, scored the winning run on a single by Johnson. Johnson went 2-for-4 in the game and had two RBI.
Christie Hamilton entered in the eighth and took the loss as she fell to 12-11 and Christine Doyle, also in relief, improved to 13-6. McKenna Hughes went 2-for-4 with two RBI, as did Lisa Longo.
Chrissy Schoonmaker recorded her second RBI of the evening as she hit a solo home run to put the Gamecocks on the board in the second inning, 1-0. The home run was her second of the year and the eighth of her career. With the long ball, she is now tied for ninth all-time.
Lisa Longo hit a two-out, two-RBI single in the third to extend USC’s lead to 3-0 in the top of the third. However, the Gamecocks’ sloppy play in the bottom half opened the doors for Coastal to climb back into the game. USC had three errors, which allowed the Chants to score two runs and cut the USC lead to one, 3-2.
Coastal recorded their first hit of the game in the top of the fifth when Carla Hood doubled to right field to lead off the inning. Henkes gave up another hit in the inning and with no outs, was replaced by Kate Pouliot. With three straight hits, the Chants loaded the bases with the leading run at first. Three runs eventually scored on a wild pitch and back-to-back hits by Meagan Johnson and Kelly Feely to tie the game 5-5.
In the top of the seventh, Schoonmaker hit a one-out triple to right field but the Gamecocks failed to drive the third baseman in as the next two USC batters grounded out for to end the inning.
USC had an exciting finish in the bottom half as Coastal threatened with a runner on. Pouliot walked Tolleson and with two outs, attempted to steal second but not before Ashley Smith connected with shortstop McKenna Hughes to throw out Tolleson for the final out and force extra innings.
