March 2, 2011
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Gamecock designated player Laura Mendes had a career day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and a home run to lead South Carolina (10-4) to a 6-1 win over Winthrop (3-8) in front of a capacity crowd at Terry Field on Wednesday afternoon.
Mendes compiled the fifth three-hit game for a Gamecock this season, finishing a single short of the cycle. She added three RBI and two runs scored as well. Junior centerfielder Lauren Lackey and sophomore right fielder Hannah Milks both had two hits and a run scored as well, with Milks contributing an RBI. Junior leftfielder Kaitlin Westfall and freshman second baseman Dana Hathorn also added RBI singles.
The senior Mendes got the Gamecocks’ first run of the day in the top of the first when she laced her second home run of the season to right. The score would stay the same until the bottom of the fourth, when Winthrop’s Megan Chapman hit a homer to left to tie the game at 1-1.
Westfall put South Carolina back on top in the sixth when she poked a single through the right side, scoring junior Evan Childs from second. Childs pinch ran for Mendes after she led off the inning with a double.
Four more Gamecock runs crossed the plate in the seventh, the first on Milks’ bunt hit, which drove in Lackey who broke from third on the pitch. Mendes followed with a triple to left, scoring sophomore shortstop Samie Garcia and Milks. Hathorn wrapped the scoring with her hit back through the box, plating Mendes.
South Carolina redshirt sophomore Audrey Broyles (3-1) tossed her second-straight complete game, allowing one earned run on two hits and one walk while striking out four in the win. Eagle starter Natalie Becker (2-4) took the loss, giving up five earned runs on four walks and eight hits. She fanned four.
Garcia’s seventh-inning bunt hit extended her hit streak to eight games, while she’s reached base in all 14 games.
The Garnet and Black head south to the Florida Atlantic Miken Classic, where South Carolina will face Providence, Seton Hall, Stony Brook and Michigan State on the weekend.
