April 3, 2014

South Carolina at No. 15/17 Georgia
Jack Turner Stadium – Athens, Ga.

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Fri., April 4, 6 PM
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Sat., April 5, 2 PM
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Sun., April 6, 1:30 PM
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2014 SC Softball Notes – 4/3

2014 SC Softball Stats – 4/1

South Carolina Team Notes

• Sweeping through its latest home stand, South Carolina rides a seven-game winning streak into the weekend series at No. 15/17 Georgia.
• South Carolina swept Mississippi at home over March 29-30, the first SEC home sweep since the Rebels’ last visit in 2011.
• The Sunday win over Ole Miss, coming by scoring two runs in its final at bat, ranks as the first this season for SC when it enters the seventh trailing.
• The Gamecocks are 6-5 in one-run games this season, a win better than last year’s 5-5. They went 5-9 during those contests in 2012 and 7-11 in Smith’s first year of 2011.
• South Carolina’s 3-2 win at No. 3/3 Arizona State marked the first win at a top-five team’s park since March 13, 2004, a 6-4 win in nine innings at LSU.
• The four double plays in the Florida Atlantic win (2/16) is believed to be a school record, as it matches what was once listed but could not be verified.
• After posting only eight hits combined in the first two games, South Carolina tallied at least eight in each the next seven. Overall, the Gamecocks have five or more hits in 31 of 36 games.
• In the Ball State loss, South Carolina snapped a streak of 11 games with one or no errors, a stretch that included a 10-game winning streak.
• The Gamecocks’ win in game one against Western Carolina came when they were down after five innings, the first South Carolina triumph coming back that late in a game this season.
• This year’s 14-2 start is bettered only by a 12-1 mark by the 2009 team in the last six years of Gamecock Softball. The 2007 Gamecocks went 24-3, the best start since the first year of SEC play.
• As a team, the Gamecocks have scored 60 percent of runners from third with less than two outs, standing second in the SEC, behind only Auburn.
• The college veterans have come through with runners on third and less than two outs, as Ansley Ard, Dana Hathorn, Chelsea Hawkins, Olivia Lawrence, Ashlyn Masters, Sarah Mooney, Kristen Struett and Codee Yeske have posted 34 RBI in 50 chances. The rest of the team is 20-for-40.
• The Gamecocks have left the third-least runners on base in the SEC this season at 210.
• Junior Sarah Mooney, a transfer from James Madison, has a team-best eight homers on the year, tying for the sixth spot in the single-season charts at South Carolina 36 games into the year.
• All of South Carolina’s losses have come when they’ve given up four or more earned runs. In fact, of the 100 team earned runs allowed, 73 have come in the 12 losses.
• In the first 30 games, South Carolina scored five runs combined in the second inning. Over the last six, the team has plated 15, including five in the second game of the Furman doubleheader.

A New Tradition: Masters Leading the Offense

• Senior Ashlyn Masters has come on to lead the Gamecocks in nine offensive categories and has captured the leadoff spot, starting her last 28 games there.
• She earned South Carolina’s first SEC Player of the Week nod (on March 31) since 2005 with her performances against Furman and Mississippi.
• Her 15 doubles already stands in South Carolina’s top 15 in a season, and her slash stats would all rank in the top 10 as well.
• With four more at-bats, she will qualify for the Gamecocks’ career top-15 in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, where she’d stand in the top 10 in each.
• She currently sits atop the career doubles-per-game list (0.25) and needs one home run, four runs, five RBI and 17 hits from qualifying for marks on those top-15s.
• In the leadoff spots, she’s scored 24 runs, more than any player’s overall39 total this season, and tallied 19 of her 20 extra-base hits.
• With multiple hits in 13 games, she leads the team.
• She’s hitting .506 when playing a defensive position combared to .148 in 10 games as a designated player.

Gamecocks vs. Ranked Opponents

• South Carolina is 97-235-1 (.293) all-time against ranked opponents.
• Broken down by site, the Gamecocks are 43-75 (.364) at home, 16-106 (.131) on the road and 38-54-1 (.414) in neutral-site outings.
• So far this season, the Gamecocks are 3-9 against ranked teams.
• Last season, the Gamecocks went 3-16 (.158) against ranked foes, including a 2-7 mark when playing in the opponent’s home park (W’s at LSU and Kentucky) and a 1-8 record at home.
• With the 3-2 win at No. 3/3 Arizona State on Feb. 27, South Carolina is now 2-21 against top-five opposition on the road.
• The Gamecocks won their first series over a ranked foe since 2009 by taking two of three games from then-No. 13/15 Texas A&M.

Scouting Georgia

• No. 15/17 Georgia, who stands second in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index, enters the weekend with a 31-5 record and coming off its lone series loss in SEC play at Missouri.
• The Bulldogs are 25-1 in their home stadium.
• The five losses have come to South Alabama, UAB (at home), Texas A&M and the two to Missouri.
• Offense stands out for the Bulldogs, who rank second in slugging percentage and third in home runs per game in the latest NCAA Division I stat rankings.
• Sophomore Alex Hugo leads the way with 15 blasts and 40 RBI, with Anna Swafford and Paige Wilson both boasting of eight homers.
• Three Bulldogs have five homers each; Kaylee Puailoa, Geri Ann Glasco and Bethany Beggs.
• Both Puailoa and Swafford have on-base percentages of .500 or better, while three others are over .400.
• Swafford provides speed, stealing 12 bases in 13 tries.
• In the circle, sophomore Chelsea Wilkinson stands strong with a 1.83 ERA and 167 strikeouts against 43 walks in 122.1 innings.
• Wilkinson’s one weakness is allowing 13 homers, but foes only hit .165 against her.
• Glasco handles most of the rest of the work, with a 2:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (88 K:42 BB) in 100.2 innings. She’s posted a 2.02 ERA.
• Watch for Katie Browne behind the plate, who has allowed nine passed balls, most in the SEC.

Georgia and South Carolina Against Common Foes

• Both teams hold doubleheader sweeps of Furman and at least one win over Western Carolina and Gardner-Webb.
• The squads also took two wins in three-game sets against Texas A&M, the Gamecocks at home and the Bulldogs in College Station.

Ties between South Carolina and Georgia

• Georgia’s Geri Ann Glasco and Samantha LaZear as well as South Carolina’s Lauren Masters, all in their second year of college, played on the Southern Force travel-ball team, a group formerly coached by UGA’s assistant Tara Archibald.
• Both Ashlyn Masters and Bekah Farris played with the Atlanta Vipers, just three years apart.

Series History vs. the Bulldogs

• Georgia has a 33-24 lead in the series, including a 18-5 record at home against the Gamecocks.
• South Carolina’s last wins in Athens came in a doubleheader sweep on March 28, 2001.

The Last Series – Georgia at South Carolina – April 12-14, 2013

• Georgia won the series by taking the last two games, 7-6 and 2-0, while South Carolina claimed a 6-2 win in game one.
• In the Gamecocks’ win, Julie Sarratt went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and a run scored while also tossing a complete game, giving up two runs on 10 hits and two walks while fanning four.
• Down three heading into the bottom of the seventh of game two, SC posted two runs in the frame and had the tying run on third when that runner was called out on the look-back rule to end it.
• Geri Ann Glasco had three homers in the game-two win for Georgia.
• Chelsea Wilkinson limited South Carolina to three hits and two walks in Georgia’s 2-0 win on Sunday to clinch the series. Glasco hit a two-run homer to provide the Bulldogs’ offense.

Snaer Drives The Middle of the Order

• Freshman Kaylea Snaer ranks as one of two Gamecocks to start all 36 games and is the only player to bat in each contest.
• She already has six homers and 22 walks, both within striking distance of SC’s top 15 in a season.
• Her 30 RBI are nine shy of a spot on the single-season charts, and she’s five doubles away from a listing as well.
• Snaer’s posted two or more hits 10 times and multiple RBI in 11 games, the latter tops on the team.
• Fourteen of Snaer’s 30 RBI have come with two outs.

Milestone Wins for Gamecocks, Smith Already Passed in ’14

• South Carolina has played 2,030 games in its softball history, going 1323-701-6 (.653) in its 41st season of sponsorship.
• With the season-opening 1-0 win over Iowa, the Gamecocks gained their 1,300th program victory.
• Head coach Beverly Smith claimed second alone on SC’s coaching wins list with a 9-1 (5) win in the first game of the doubleheader against Furman.
• She earlier took third with the 13-0 (5) victory vs. UNC Greensboro.
• She is the third Gamecock head coach to coach a fourth season at South Carolina, joining Piel and NFCA Hall-of-Fame coach Joyce Compton.

The Pitchers Reign Supreme

• Both redshirt junior Julie Sarratt and freshman Nickie Blue have won weekly awards from the Southeastern Conference, Sarratt most recently being named pitcher of the week on March 17.
• Blue earned her first SEC Freshman of the Week honor on Feb. 24 after picking up a win and two saves in relief as well as her first career shutout vs. Michigan State.
• When Blue pitches, she’s produced double the ground-ball outs (150) versus fly outs (75).
• Sarratt picked up SEC Pitcher of the Week honors on March 17 after going 2-0 with a save the week prior, which included a complete-game, nine strikeout win over No. 13/15 Texas A&M.
• Sarratt’s fanned 105 batters in 107 innings, a rate over two K’s better her career standard (4.56 K/7IP) entering the year.
• Sarratt struck out a career-high 10 in the win over Maryland, while she sat down nine in her complete-game victory over No. 13/15 Texas A&M, her best in an SEC game.
• She is at her best with two strikes against right-handed hitters, holding them to a .133 batting average (17-of-128) with 67 of her K’s in those circumstances.
• Both Blue and Sarratt have four saves, tying for fourth in a single season at South Carolina.
• Both are better in relief (Sarratt 0.92 ERA, Blue 1.33) than starting (Sarratt 2.85, Blue 4.01).
• The group posted a 29-inning scoreless streak from the final game at Florida Atlantic till the final game of the Gamecock Invitational. UNC Wilmington posted an unearned first-inning run to snap it.
• Longer than that stretch was the Gamecock pitchers’ no-homer stand, from the 4th against Ohio through the end of the UNC Wilmington game, lasting 72 innings.
• As a team, the Gamecock pitchers have allowed 0.43 homers, 0.06 triples and 0.77 doubles per game, which stand first, sixth and sixth in the league, respectively.
• The staff has given up only six runs in the fifth inning all year (35 innings).

In Wins and Losses, Who (and What) Stands Out?

• Gamecock pitching has a near 3:1 K:BB ratio in wins while it’s 0.85:1 in losses.
• Julie Sarratt has a 80:26 K:BB ratio in 72.1 innings in wins and a 25:25 ratio in 34.2 innings in losses. Nickie Blue is in the same vicinity, 53:24 in wins and 16:17 in losses.
• The Gamecocks have drawn 97 walks and been hit 25 times in 24 wins and garnered 22 free passes and 9 HBPs in 12 losses.
• Catalysts in wins include Ashlyn Masters (.479 BA, 13 2B in W’s, .258 BA, 2 2B in L’s), Ansley Ard (.410 BA in W’s, .222 in L’s), Codee Yeske (.453 OBP in W’s, .300 in L’s) and Kristen Struett (.349 OBP in W’s, .154 in L’s).
• As a team, the Gamecocks slug .527 in wins and .374 in losses and reach base at a .425 clip in wins and just .317 in losses.
• When the Gamecocks hit a homer, they are 20-4. If they amass more hits than the foe, they are 21-1. When holding opponents without a homer, South Carolina is 18-6.
• In 10 of the 12 losses, the Gamecocks have given up eight hits or more. Only on three occasions have they won when allowing that many hits.

Some People Love Home Cooking; Others Shine on the Road

• Ashlyn Masters tends to like playing at home, posting a .484 batting average and a .839 slugging percentage in Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field against .310 and .452, respectively, away from home.
• Ansley Ard also hits better at home (.389 vs. .286).
• Victoria Williams (.500 BA vs. .293) has done better on the road, along with Dana Hathorn (.313 vs. .174).
• Brooke Barnhill has scored eight runs in 13 appearances away from Columbia, while she’s scored only three times in 15 home playing chances.
• Both of South Carolina’s primary pitchers have ERAs under 2.00 at home and over 4.00 outside of the SEC’s newest stadium.
• Helping those ERAs are the 124:43 K:BB ratio at home compared to a 61:64 mark away from Beckham Field.

The Road Gets Tougher

• The Gamecocks have scheduled 24 of their 55 regular-season games against teams who made the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
• South Carolina downed No. 3/3 Arizona State and is 3-10 against those teams so far in 2014.
• A total of 35 of the Gamecocks’ scheduled games come against teams that finished in the top 100 of the NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index last year. Of those, 21 are against RPI top-50 teams.
• Entering the Georgia weekend, South Carolina is 3-9 against RPI top-50 squads. The Bulldogs are second in the index.
• After facing nothing but NCAA Tournament participants in SEC play last year, South Carolina has two conference weekends against non-tourney teams this year (home vs. Mississippi & Auburn).
• Two of the Gamecocks’ SEC contests will be on television, including the opening game to ESPN’s national coverage (March 23 at Tennessee on ESPNU).
• The Gamecocks’ April 19 game against LSU will also be on ESPNU, while all nine games of the SEC Softball Tournament will be on the ESPN family of networks.