March 2, 2008
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| Box Score |
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Redshirt freshman Krystle Robinson tossed her second career shutout, leading South Carolina to a 5-0 victory over Gardner-Webb on the final day of the Carolina Classic at Beckham Field. The Gamecocks move to 10-8 on the season, while the Runnin’ Bulldogs fall to 7-11.
Freshman centerfielder Laura Mendes topped Carolina at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Rookie catcher P.J. Fulmer went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while senior right fielder Jessica Josker and sophomore Cagney Davis both had one run batted in.
For the third time on the weekend, the Gamecocks scored in the first inning. Fulmer got the two-out RBI on her single, scoring junior Ashton Payne from second. She led off the game with a walk and moved to second on Mendes’ single.
Carolina added some insurance in the seventh, first on Josker’s sacrifice fly, which plated Mendes. She started the inning with a double and moved to third on Jill Semento’s single. With two out, pinch hitter Davis laced a double to right center, allowing pinch runner Whitney Wierzbicki to score to make it 3-0. Jacqueline Wetherbee took first on a hit by pitch, and both Davis and pinch runner Adele Voigt moved up 60 feet on a wild pitch. After Becky Martinez drew a walk to load the bases, Chrissy Schoonmaker hit a grounder to short that Melody Harrell mishandled, allowing Davis to score. In haste, Harrell threw on to second, but her throw got away, letting Voigt score as well. The Runnin’ Bulldogs got out of the inning when relief pitcher Taryn Beck got a strikeout.
South Carolina had chances to add to its early lead in the third. Payne extended her hitting streak to 13 games with a single to left. She promptly stole second but stayed there when Mendes’ hit to center fell just in front of Gardner-Webb’s Kelly Linsley. The freshman Semento sacrificed the runners into scoring position, but a fly out and a ground out ended the threat.
The Gamecocks had another good opportunity to score in the fifth, as Mendes and Semento got on to start the inning. Josker moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt before Fulmer hit a line shot that glanced off third baseman Lindsay Cox’s glove and froze the runner, loading the bases. But GWU starter Christine Murray buckled down, getting a pop out and a strikeout to close the inning. In all, Carolina left 11 runners on base.
Robinson (5-3) scattered seven hits and two walks in the complete-game shutout, the second of her career. Robinson struck out a career-high 12 batters. Murray (2-3) received the loss, giving up 10 hits and five runs, three earned, in 6.2 innings while punching out nine and walking two.
