Feb. 13, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. – Pinch runner Kaitlin Westfall scampered home after a wild throw with two outs in the ninth, delivering a 3-2 win to South Carolina over No. 25 Kansas in the first game for both teams in the UCF Early Bird Tournament.
The freshman Westfall began the inning at second base thanks to the international tiebreaker, and she stayed there as the first two batters of the inning were retired, first on a popped-up bunt followed by a strikeout. That brought freshman Kandyce Redondo, the ninth-place hitter, to the plate, and she blooped a single into left field. Westfall held up at third under head coach Joyce Compton’s direction, but she raced to the plate and got in under the tag after Liz Kocon’s throw sailed over both the catcher and the pitcher’s head.
In the sixth, South Carolina (3-1) retied the game on P.J. Fulmer’s RBI single. Freshman Evan Childs drew a one-out walk and moved to second on pinch hitter Jill Semento’s single to right. The Jayhawks got a pop out ahead of Fulmer’s hit to right that scored Childs.
The Jayhawks (2-3) gained a 2-1 advantage in the top half of the sixth thanks to three walks and a fielder’s choice. Stevie Crisosto and Elle Pottrof both drew walks to start the inning, while Val Chapple reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases. Freshman reliever Kierstyn White then walked in a run with her free pass to Amanda Jobe. She settled down after that, getting two strikeouts and a ground out to escape the jam without any more damage.
Freshman Lauren Lackey tied up the game at 1-1 in the fifth when she scored on Kristen Stubblefield’s two-out RBI single. Lackey got a one-out hit and moved to second on Kocon’s first error of the game. The Jayhawks got the initial lead on Pottrof’s solo home run in the fourth.
South Carolina got out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh to help take the game into extra frames. Dougie McCaulley reached on a force out and stole second ahead of a walk to Crisosto. Pottrof loaded the bags via error ahead of Chapple. The freshman White got the senior slugger to ground to the third baseman Redondo, who got the lead runner at the plate. White then got Jobe to wave at a 3-2 pitch to end the inning.
White (2-0) picked up her second career win with four innings of hitless relief. She struck out four while walking four. Val George (2-2) got the loss, allowing three runs, one earned, on eight hits and a walk in 8.2 innings. She tallied nine strikeouts.
Both senior Ashton Payne and Redondo had two hits in the game, while Fulmer and Stubblefield each had a run batted in.
The Gamecocks face Bradley at 5:30 p.m. at Hagerty High School. Gametracker live statistics are available at GamecocksOnline.com.
