March 19, 2014
COLUMBIA, S.C. – A seventh-inning unearned run sends No. 16/19 Minnesota (22-3) home a winner, downing South Carolina (17-9) 1-0 on Wednesday evening at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field.
A four-pitch walk to Kaitlyn Richardson gave the Golden Gophers a runner in the seventh, and after a pop out, Bree Blanchette was hit by a pitch to put two on. A fly to right had South Carolina on the brink of escaping the inning, but a dropped fly by the Gamecock shortstop going back into shallow left allowed Richardson to score to give Minnesota the lead.
Gamecock redshirt junior Julie Sarratt (7-5) pitched well in the contest, using only 93 pitches in the complete game. She gave up a hit to Tyler Walker, the first hitter of the game, but not another, walking three, hitting two and striking out four in the tough-luck loss. Minnesota’s Sara Moulton (15-2) took the victory, giving up three hits and a walk while fanning nine in her shutout.
South Carolina senior second baseman Dana Hathorn had the only extra-base hit of the game, doubling with one down in the fourth. She moved to third on a groundout but was stranded there. The Gamecocks left six runners on base, including a runner on third in the first and fourth.
The Gamecocks did turn two double plays to help Sarratt, as freshman first baseman Kaylea Snaer had one on her own in the first. With the bases loaded and one out, Blanchette lined one that Snaer reached to her right to take out of the air before beating the runner back to first to get the out. In the fourth, Richardson drew a leadoff walk but got thrown out at second on a strikeout double play when Sara Groenewegen went down looking on a 3-2 pitch.
Richardson drew all three walks for the Golden Gophers.
In history, the Gamecocks have fallen while tossing a one-hitter on five occasions since 1995, the last at Florida Atlantic in 2010.
South Carolina travels to No. 4/3 Tennessee for a three-game series, with first pitch scheduled for 6, 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Sunday’s game will kick off ESPN’s national coverage of softball, showing live on ESPNU. GamecocksOnline.com will have live audio and Gametracker for all three games of the series.
