April 6, 2007
BATON ROUGE, La. – Freshman Adele Voigt hit an RBI-single to score Jacqueline Wetherbee and gave the South Carolina Gamecocks (26-13, 3-8 SEC) a 2-1 victory over the fifth-ranked LSU Tigers (37-6, 12-3 SEC) in game one of a Friday doubleheader. The win snapped an eight-game losing streak in conference play for South Carolina and it is the Gamecocks’ first win against a ranked team this season. Junior Melissa Hendon recorded the win, snapping an eight-game losing streak for the pitcher. Hendon lit the fire under the Gamecocks with her hit that that eventually became the Gamecocks’ tying run of the game.
Hendon earned her first victory since March 14 against Virginia Tech as she gave up one run on four hits in her 14th complete game of the season. This marks her third conference win of the year with the last coming on March 11 against Arkansas. Emily Turner took the loss for LSU as she gave up two runs on six hits and had six strikeouts. Turner falls to 13-5 on the year.
LSU jumped on the board first. The Gamecocks were one out away from getting out of the second inning when Rachel Mitchell kept the inning alive with an infield single to give the Tigers their first hit of the game. Tayl’r Hollis then followed with a deep single to right field which allowed a speedy Mitchell to score all the way from first to give LSU the 1-0 lead in the game.
South Carolina made its presence known in the fifth. Hendon led off the inning with a single and was replaced by pinch runner Cagney Davis to give the Gamecocks some speed on the bases. After advancing to second on a sac bunt by Lisa Longo, Davis eventually scored on a single by Jacqueline Wetherbee to tie the game 1-1. With Wetherbee representing the lead run, South Carolina had another chance to score. After two outs, Adele Voigt singled a line drive to center field, allowing Wetherbee to score from second and put the Gamecocks up 2-1.
For the second inning in a row, the Gamecocks put the leadoff runner on base when Jessica Josker hit a single in the sixth. When Lindsay Walker reached on a fielders choice, the Gamecocks had two base runners on and after advancing on a sacrifice, were in scoring position to give South Carolina additional runs. However, the two runners would be stranded as the Tigers buckled down and retired the next three batters to get out of the inning unharmed.
After the Tigers scored in the second, Hendon and the Gamecocks contained LSU for the rest of the game and gave up only two hits and one walk five innings pitched. The Tigers went down in order in the bottom of the seventh with two groundouts and a strikeout to end the game.
The win marks the first against a ranked team this season for the Gamecocks, and it is highest ranked team South Carolina has defeated since No. 5 Georgia in 2004. The last ranked team South Carolina defeated was No. 19/20 Auburn last year.
South Carolina 2, LSU 1 (Apr 06, 2007 at Baton Rouge, La.) (Game 1)
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South Carolina…… 000 020 0 – 2 6 0 (26-13, 4-8)
LSU…………….. 010 000 0 – 1 4 0 (37-6, 12-3)
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Pitchers: South Carolina – Melissa Hendon. LSU – Emily Turner.
Win-Melissa Hendon(11-9) Loss-Emily Turner(13-5) T-1:31 A-0
Game notes: South Carolina snaps an eight- game losing streak in conference games. This also marks the first win against a ranked team this season for the Gamecocks.
