Feb. 12, 2009

South Carolina at UCF Early Bird Tourney

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ORLANDO, Fla. – After an opening-weekend series win over the College of Charleston, the Gamecocks play in their first tournament of the year at the UCF Early Bird in Orlando, Fla. The squad will take on No. 25 Kansas to start the action on Friday before squaring off against Bradley, North Florida, Bowling Green and Texas-Arlington during the rest of the event.

Kansas brings a 2-2 mark to Orlando after topping two top-10 teams in the Kajikawa Classic at Arizona State last weekend. Bradley is 4-1 on the season, downing two 2008 NCAA Tournament teams in Western Illinois and Wright State last weekend at home. North Florida enters Friday’s action with a 1-4 mark after opening the year up Interstate 4 at USF. Both Bowling Green and Texas-Arlington are both playing their first games of the year in Orlando on Friday.

What a Debut!
Freshman Audrey Broyles had a day for the ages in her first game donning the Garnet and Black. The Pembroke Pines, Fla., freshman tossed a complete game, allowing just one earned run while fanning 14 Cougars. That is currently the highest number of K’s recorded by a Gamecock in their debut, with the current records going back to 1996. More research will be done on that in the weeks ahead.

What made Broyles’ first game even better was her day at the plate. She went 1-for-3 with a two-RBI single in the first to help put the Gamecocks on top, 4-0. Broyles is the only South Carolina player to record a hit in all three contests thus far and leads the squad with a .500 batting average. Her .556 on-base percentage stands tied for 10th in the early going in the SEC statistical rankings.

Is the Second Game of the Year Still a Debut if It’s on the First Day?
Evan Childs came through with a big contest in just her second in a South Carolina jersey. The Conway, S.C., product hit two game-tying home runs in the Gamecocks’ 6-4 win in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday against the College of Charleston. The first was a solo shot in the third to answer the Cougars run in the top half of the frame. The last one was a three-run blast that knotted the contest at four apiece in the fifth. That set the stage for Laura Mendes’ go-ahead sacrifice fly in the sixth that was the difference in the contest.

The rookie Childs currently stands fourth in the SEC in slugging percentage at 1.111, while she is tied for third in homers and sixth in RBI with six.

The Gamecocks Have Lots of Youth . . .
Head coach Joyce Compton has never had 10 newcomers to her program in one year until this year. Nine freshman (matching a record from 2005) and one transfer make up one of the youngest teams Compton has ever fielded. The most inexperience will be in the circle, as redshirt sophomore Krystle Robinson is the only pitcher back. She made 16 starts and 24 appearances overall. Three true freshmen and one transfer will vie to fill those over 220 innings or nearly 70 percent of the innings lost from last season.

. . . But They Also Bring Back Lots of Experience
But this is no green group as a whole. Out of 423 starts in the nine batting spots, over 67 percent of those starts return. The returning catchers started all but two games last season, most of any spot. Three returners started all but four games in left field, which stands second. At shortstop, junior Lindsay Walker started 41 of the 47 games, the third-highest percentage on the team. The position losing the most starts are right field (32), third base (30) and first base (24).

More Parts Mean More Lineups? Stay Tuned
Last season, the Gamecocks seemingly never ran out the same nine in the same order. Reality was not far from the truth, as head coach Joyce Compton used the same defensive alignment in back-to-back games just three times all season. In all, South Carolina utilized 38 different units around the pitcher. Lineup order was a different matter entirely, as 43 different orders were trotted out in the 47-game season. But even with the larger roster (by three), there is only one more position player on the roster compared to 2008. Four of the additions will take the place of two pitchers, while six freshman position players take over for five departed seniors who played the field last year.

South Carolina Picked to Finish Fourth in SEC East
In what should be familiar to Gamecock fans, the Southeastern Conference coaches selected the squad to finish fourth in the SEC Eastern Division. This is the sixth-consecutive year that South Carolina has ranked fourth in the preseason polling of the league’s managers. Florida was chosen to win the East and the overall title, while Tennessee was picked second. Georgia was selected third, while Kentucky came in fifth. Alabama was the coaches’ choice to win the SEC West this season.

Carolina in the Month of February Under Joyce Compton
In the 20-plus years of starting the season in the second month of the year, Carolina is 119-57-1 (.675) during February. Last year, the Gamecocks went 7-8 during the opening month of the year.

Early Look at Career List Possibilities in 2009
A few Gamecocks are looking to move onto or move up on some career charts as we start 2009. Senior Ashton Payne has already got spots in the top 10 in stolen bases and triples, and she’s close to adding hits and batting average to her list. She needs 31 hits in 2009 to tie for 10th all time with Debralee Troesh, while seven batting average points would push her ahead of Toinette Reed into 10th there. She needs one steal to tie for eighth with Dana Fulmer, and another triple puts her into fourth place alone. Payne would have to break the NCAA single-season record for triples to move any higher on the list, however.

A couple of others are already eyeing positions in different charts. Senior Jacqueline Wetherbee needs three round-trippers to tie Jana Zimmerman and current assistant coach Adrianna Baggetta for ninth all-time on the home-run charts. And sophomore Jill Semento is close to landing on a painful list, as three more hit-by-pitches will put her in a tie for eighth with 10 in her short career.

Not Exactly Well Regarded
Of the teams the Gamecocks face this weekend, only Bowling Green and Texas-Arlington are picked to finish in the top half of their leagues. The Falcons were voted to finish second in the Mid-American Conference Eastern Division, while the Mavs were chosen to rank fourth by the Southland’s coaches. Kansas, who now is in the top 25, was picked eighth in the 10-team Big 12 race. North Florida was selected to finish eighth in the Atlantic Sun, while Bradley was slated for ninth place in the 10-team Missouri Valley.

Gamecocks All-Time vs. Kansas
The Gamecocks are 3-2 all-time against the Jayhawks, including taking the last meeting on Feb. 16, 2007, in Florida but in Tallahassee instead of Orlando. That is the only win for South Carolina over Kansas at a neutral site, going 1-2 against the Jayhawks on neutral fields.

Scouting the Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas enters the weekend at 2-2 on the young season after splitting their contests at the Kajikawa Classic, winning games over top-10 teams Arizona and Northwestern while falling to No. 11 Stanford and UTEP. The Jayhawks now rank 25th in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. The team’s pitching was fair in two games, giving up just one run to the western Wildcats and three to the Miners, but they allowed seven to Northwestern and 10 to the Cardinal.

Senior Val George got both wins and enters the weekend with a 2.53 ERA. She has struck out 14 in 10.2 innings this season. At the plate, senior Val Chapple tops the squad with a .364 batting average and .455 slugging percentage. Seniors Dougie McCaulley and Elle Pottorf both hold on-base percentages of .462 on the young season. Sophomore Liz Kocon and junior Ally Stanton both drove in three runs in Tempe.

The Last Time – South Carolina vs. Kansas – Feb. 16, 2007
The Gamecocks defeated the Kansas Jayhawks, 3-1, at the FSU Sunshine Tournament. Jacqueline Wetherbee hit a one-out, bases loaded single to drive home McKenna Hughes in the sixth inning. Kate Pouliot earned the victory for South Carolina, while Jessica Josker went 2-for-2 with an RBI.

Gamecocks All-Time vs. Bradley
South Carolina took the only meeting against Bradley in 1987, 8-0. That game took place in Tampa, Fla.

Scouting the Bradley Braves
The Braves went 3-1 last weekend while hosting the Country Inn & Suites Invite, topping 2008 NCAA Tournament participants Western Illinois, 5-1, and Wright State, 2-0, along with IUPUI, 5-2, while falling to Iowa State, 5-3. Bradley pitching recorded a 1.25 ERA on the weekend, while senior Ashley Birdsong struck out 19 batters in 14 innings pitched. Freshman Jackie Roth led the squad with a .545 batting average and on-base percentage, scoring four runs as well. Senior Anne Creighton reached base at a .417 clip while making her two hits count with a double and a triple.

The Last Time – South Carolina vs. Bradley – March 4, 1987
Behind the complete game one-hitter by Darlene Lowery, South Carolina beat Bradley, 8-0. Lowery struck out 16 of the 22 batters she faced and only gave up one walk. The offense relied on big innings in the fourth and sixth to put the game out of reach. The Gamecocks scored three runs in the fourth, led by catcher Karen Sanchelli’s homer, and scored four more in the sixth behind first baseman Sue Sproule, who was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a RBI.

Gamecocks All-Time vs. North Florida
The Garnet and Black hold a 2-1 mark against the Ospreys in history. Last season, the squads split in the FAU Kick-Off Classic, taking the season opener, 3-1, before falling in eight innings to North Florida, 3-2.The other meeting also came in Boca Raton, Fla., a 4-0 Gamecock win on Feb. 9, 2007.

Scouting the North Florida Ospreys
North Florida went 1-4 last weekend in a tournament in Tampa, beating Minnesota while falling to Illinois State, UNC Greensboro, Florida Gulf Coast and host USF. Freshman Britanie Block, who was a high school teammate of Audrey Broyles and Kandyce Redondo, leads the team with a .357 batting average early on, while fellow rookies Allyson Bailey and Ariana Godwin both hit .353 last weekend. Sophomore Brittany Cavalli had the best ERA (2.33) of the staff, while Shaina Dent got the win over the Golden Gophers while starting three games during the tournament. Junior Devyn Findley struck out 23 batters in 12.2 innings.

The Last Time – South Carolina vs. North Florida – Feb. 10, 2008
After South Carolina tied up the game with two runs in the seventh, the Ospreys of North Florida came back with a run in the eighth to down the Gamecocks, 3-2, on the final day of the Florida Atlantic Kick-Off Classic at the FAU Softball Stadium. With the international tiebreaker rule in effect to start the eighth, North Florida had Gwen Williams sacrifice runner Heather Hyde to third. Pitcher Devyn Findlay followed and lined a double to left center to plate the go-ahead run.

Gamecocks All-Time vs. Bowling Green
South Carolina has won three of the four meetings all-time against Bowling Green, taking the last three after losing the first meeting, 2-1, in 1983. The last meeting came in 1985, with the Gamecocks winning that, 6-0.

Scouting the Bowling Green State Falcons
Bowling Green opens their season on Friday after going 19-24 in 2008. The Falcons lost their top two hitters from a year ago, leaving senior Hayley Wiemer as the top hitter back. She hit .292 with a .637 slugging percentage, leading the way with 11 home runs while ranking second with 23 RBI. Her .467 on-base percentage also led the team. Wiemer is also the top returning pitcher, going 15-7 on the year with a 1.76 ERA. She tossed 155 of the Falcons’ 285.2 innings last year, striking out 120 batters.

The Last Time – South Carolina vs. Bowling Green – March 10, 1985
Behind the pitching of Darlene Lowery, South Carolina defeated Bowling Green, 6-0. Lowery pitched a complete game for the Gamecocks with eight strikeouts and only two hits. The offense was led by catcher Chris Diemer, who was 2-for-2 with a pair a singles and two RBI.

Gamecocks All-Time vs. Texas-Arlington
The Gamecocks hold a 5-2 record against the Mavs all-time. Most likely, all of the meetings have occured on neutral sites, but South Carolina’s official record at neutral sites against UTA is 4-1. Carolina won the last meeting, 3-0, on March 16, 1993, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Scouting the Texas-Arlington Mavericks
The Mavericks start their season on Friday in Orlando. Last year, the squad went 27-22 overall, including 20-10 in the Southland. Samantha Chumchal is the top returning hitter, going .327 at the plate. She drove in 23 runs, third on the squad. Sophomore Rebecca Collom had 26 RBI and 10 homers, both good for second on the squad. Cara Hulme returns in the circle after going 16-7 with a 1.96 ERA in 2008. She struck out 187 in 171.1 innings. Pitchers Cassandra Nordie and Heather Fortenberry also return for Texas-Arlington.

The Last Time – South Carolina vs. Texas-Arlington – March 16, 1993
A strong defensive effort led South Carolina to a 3-0 victory over UT-Arlington. Pitcher Darlene Gareis threw a complete-game one-hitter for the Gamecocks with two strikeouts and one walk. Defensively, the Gamecocks did not commit an error. South Carolina’s top three hitters in the lineup, Tiff Tootle, Toinette Reed and Dana Fulmer, went a combined 7-for-9 during the game, scoring all three runs and two RBI.

Did You Know?
This will be for some miscellanous facts learned this season on the road. First up, did you know the trip from Columbia to Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant, S.C., lasts exactly as long as the movie Major League?