April 22, 2006
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Ashton Payne hit an RBI single to drive in Darcy Norem in the 10th-inning to lift the South Carolina Gamecocks to a 3-2 victory over the Ole Miss Rebels in game one of the Saturday twinbill. The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Gamecocks as the Garnet and Black improved to 25-25 and 5-16 in the SEC. Payne went 2-for-5 with two RBI, while Jessica Josker went 2-for-4 with one RBI.
South Carolina made the tiebreaker rule work in their favor in the bottom of the 10th when Norem was placed at second and advanced to third on a sacrifice fielder’s choice grounder by Margaret Person. Josker drew a walk off Dana Brill (8-14) to load the bases before Payne came through with a solid single to center field to end the game. For the game, Brill gave up three runs on six hits in the loss. Ole Miss fell to 16-32 and 3-18 in the SEC.
In her longest outing of the season, Christie Hamilton (13-13) recorded her 13th win and improved to .500 on the year. Hamilton gave up two runs on seven hits to the Rebels and struck out 10. This marked her first 10-plus strikeout game since March 15 when she recorded 12 against Eastern Kentucky.
Ole Miss took the 1-0 lead first in the second inning when Mandy Ott scored on a sacrifice fly by Mary Jane Callahan.
The Gamecocks rallied back in the bottom of the third as Josker and Payne hit back-to-back RBI singles with two outs to take the 2-1 lead.
South Carolina held the 2-1 lead into the seventh and with one out, Ole Miss led off the inning with Kayla Mosley reaching safely on a Gamecock error by Jacqueline Wetherbee. Mosley eventually scored when Lisa Conchos singled to right field and tied the game 2-2. The hit extended Conchos’ hitting streak to 10 games and tied the Ole Miss school record.
Both teams were retired in order in both the eighth and ninth innings. In the tenth however, the Gamecocks squelched the Rebels chance to score when centerfielder Lisa Longo threw out Rebecca McIntire at home plate for the second out of the inning. Lauren Rowe singled to center field and Longo executed the throw perfectly to catcher Ashley Smith to get the out.
