Feb. 15, 2007
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina softball will take its 6-0 record on the road and travel to Tallahassee, Fla. for the Florida State Sunshine Tournament, Feb. 16-17. Due to predicted weather of below freezing temperatures in the late hours, the game times for the tournament have been moved up. South Carolina will now play Big 12 Champions Kansas at 11:30 a.m. instead of Noon. All games can be followed live on Gametracker or via audio internet broadcast at www.uscsports.com.
Also scheduled on Friday, USC will take on Conference USA opponent Memphis at 1:30 p.m. Saturday’s action will match the Garnet and Black against Jacksonville at 9:30 a.m. and No. 22 FSU at 1:30 p.m. The game against FSU can be viewed through live video streaming on FSU’s paid site at www.seminoles.com.
The Kansas Jayhawks enter the tournament with a 2-2-1 record and this marks the fifth meeting ever between the two teams. The series is tied 2-2 and with the last meeting taking place in 1997. The Gamecocks defeated the Jayhawks twice at the NCAA Regional in Columbia to advance to the Women’s College World Series. Kansas has recorded wins over UC Santa Barbara and San Diego State, while suffering losses to No. 10 Cal and No. 6 Oregon State. They tied UMass 1-1 in their most recent outing which was called in the sixth due to rain.
The Memphis Tigers are 4-2 the Gamecocks have a 1-0 lead in the series. This will be the second meeting between the two teams. Last year, South Carolina defeated the Tigers 2-1 at the Tar Heel Invitational. The Tigers last played at the Easton Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge, La. where they defeated Centenary, Middle Tennessee, and Missouri twice. Memphis’ two losses were to No. 7 LSU, the tournament host.
Jacksonville is 1-4 upon entering the tournament coming off of its lone win, a 3-0 victory over UNC-Greensboro to close out their home tournament. The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Dolphins after falling to Minnesota and Southern Illinois twice. This will be the first meeting ever between the Gamecocks and the Dolphins.
South Carolina will wrap up tournament action against No. 22 Florida State. The Seminoles, along with the Gamecocks, are the only undefeated teams in the tournament. Led by head coach Dr. JoAnne Graf, FSU has recorded victories over Samford, Florida A&M, Radford and Georgia Southern. This will be the 42nd meeting between the two traditionally rich softball programs. Both schools are led by Hall of Fame Coaches and FSU has a slight edge in the series as they lead 21-20.
One Gamecock tie to the FSU staff: former South Carolina pitching standout Megan Matthews Buning is the pitching coach for the Seminoles. Matthews Buning is in her third season with FSU.
