April 21, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – Jessica Josker brought in the tying runs with two-outs and Lindsay Walker followed with an RBI single to left field to carry the South Carolina Gamecocks a 6-5 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats in the first game of a doubleheader at Beckham Field. Josker went 3-for-4 in the game, hitting her first homerun of the season in the second inning, and Melissa Hendon earned the win to improve to 15-11 on the season.
With the win, the Gamecocks improve to 30-16 overall and 8-10 in the SEC while the Wildcats drop to 19-22 and 4-16.
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Jacqueline Wetherbee hit a one-out double followed by a single by Ashton Payne to give Carolina runners in scoring position. Both runners advanced on a ground out by Adele Voigt, and McKenna Hughes hit a two-out single to right field to bring both runners home for the 3-2 lead.
The Gamecocks would hold on to the lead until Kentucky’s Brooke Marnitz, the SEC’s leader in homeruns with 20 long balls, hit a two-out, three-run homerun in the top of the seventh for the 5-3 lead. Payne walked with two-outs in the bottom half of the inning, and Voigt singled to the shortstop to bring in a Megan Jolly to pitch for the Wildcats with Hughes at the plate. A four-pitch walk loaded the bases for Josker, and she blasted the first pitch to right-center field for a two RBI single that tied the game, 5-5. Walker hit the second pitch to left field for the game-winning RBI single to bring Hughes home and give the Gamecocks the victory.
Hendon recorded 13 strikeouts for the Gamecocks, her eighth 10+-strikeout game of the season and the first since recording 10 on March 7 against Coastal Carolina.
Josker put the Gamecocks on board to lead off the bottom of the second inning with a homerun to centerfield, her first of the season. It was the fourth homerun of her career, the last three coming the week of March 6, 2005 when she hit three over the fence at the Buzz Classic Tournament in Atlanta, Ga. Her efforts in the six-game tournament earned her SEC Player of the Week honors.
South Carolina 6, Kentucky 5 (Apr 21, 2007 at Columbia, S.C.) (Game 1)
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Kentucky………… 000 020 3 – 5 6 0 (19-22, 4-16)
South Carolina…… 010 020 3 – 6 10 1 (30-16, 8-10)
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Pitchers: Kentucky – Amber Matousek; Megan Jolly(7). South Carolina – Melissa Hendon.
Win-Melissa Hendon(15-11) Loss-Megan Jolly(7-8) T-1:51 A-0
HR UK – Brooke Marnitz (20).
HR SC – Jessica Josker (1).
