Softball . April 7, 2014

South Carolina Hosts Campbell on Tues. at 6 PM

April 7, 2014

South Carolina Hosts Campbell
Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field – Columbia, S.C.
Tues., April 8, 6 PM
Live Video | | @GamecockSoftbll

2014 SC Softball Notes – 4/7

2014 SC Softball Stats – 4/5

South Carolina Team Notes

The Gamecocks won their first game at Georgia since March 28, 2001 in the first game of the April 5 doubleheader.
It’s the team’s second win at the home of a top-25 team, joining the 3-2 victory at No. 3/3 Arizona State.
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.
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 7-5 in one-run games this season, two wins 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.
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 39 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 58.1 percent of runners from third with less than two outs, standing fifth in the SEC.
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 53 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 226.
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 39 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 113 team earned runs allowed, 86 have come in the 14 losses.
In the first 30 games, South Carolina scored five runs combined in the second inning. Over the last nine, the team has plated 16, 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 31 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 all rank in the top 10 as well.
She’s now in the Gamecocks’ career top-15 in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, which can be found on page 10.
She currently sits atop the career doubles-per-game list (0.24) and needs one home run, four runs, five RBI and 16 hits from qualifying for marks on those top-15s.
In the leadoff spots, she’s scored 24 runs, more than any player’s overall 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 .465 when playing a defensive position combared to .143 in 11 games as a designated/offensive player.

Snaer Drives The Middle of the Order

Freshman Kaylea Snaer ranks as one of two Gamecocks to start all 39 games and is the only player to bat in each contest.
She already has six homers and 23 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.

Scouting Campbell

Campbell brings a 23-20 overall record to Columbia and is fresh off a series loss at home to Winthrop.
The Camels utilize speed, stealing 60 bases, with four players doing most of the work.
Ericka Nesbitt, who leads the team in batting average and on-base percentage, also tops the team with 15 stolen bases in 18 tries.
Brittany Bruce and Stephanie Jones both have double-digit steals and two triples each, while Kerstine Womack adds eight stolen bases.
Milly Martinet and Courtney Klingler add the power with 14 and 11 home runs, respectively.
Martinet has 42 RBI, while Klingler boasts a better on-base percentage (.387).
In the circle, Courtney Roberts and Katie Baker both hold foes to under .220 batting averages in over 100 innings of work.
Roberts has given up 31 extra-base hits in 82 hits allowed this season. She holds a 2.38 ERA and has 69 strikeouts and 44 walks.
Baker has struck out 119 batters against 49 walks in 106.2 innings, but she’s also tossed 19 wild pitches and hit 13 batters in those innings.

The Last Meeting

South Carolina	2

Campbell	1

March 19, 2013
Buies Creek, N.C.

Page’s Triple Leads Gamecocks to 2-1 Win at Campbell

A two-out triple in the fifth by freshman left fielder Alaynie Page helped propel South Carolina (17-9) to a 2-1 win over Campbell (17-9) on Tuesday evening at Amanda Littlejohn Stadium.

Recap | Box Score

Campbell and South Carolina Against Common Foes

Both teams lost to Tennessee, the Camels in a one-run game, while both hold wins over Gardner-Webb.

Ties between South Carolina and Campbell

Campbell’s Courtney Roberts played on the Carolina Elite team that also produced Gamecocks Jordan Bizzell, Alaynie Page and Macey Webb.

Series History vs. the Camels

The Gamecocks are 11-0 against Campbell all-time, including a 7-0 mark at home.

The Last Meeting – South Carolina at Campbell – March 19, 2013

A two-out triple in the fifth by Alaynie Page helped propel South Carolina to a 2-1 win over Campbell at Amanda Littlejohn Stadium.

Milestone Wins for Gamecocks, Coach Smith Already Passed in ÃƒÂ«14

South Carolina has played 2,033 games in its softball history, going 1324-703-6 (.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 Joys of Playing at Home

After playing only 17 games at its home facility last season, tying the second-lowest mark in the SEC era (since 1997), South Carolina has scheduled 34 games for Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field before hosting the 2014 SEC Softball Tournament.
Barring any rainouts, it would take two postseason games at home to tie the 2002 team’s record with 36 home games.
The Gamecocks have already more than doubled their 2013 home win total, going 19-3 this year compared to 7-10 in Carolina Softball Stadium a year ago.
Out of those 22 home games, South Carolina has posted a shutout in 10 of them. One loss even saw the Gamecocks throw a one-hitter (vs. No. 16/19 Minnesota, 3/19)
In the 15 home dates, the Gamecocks have posted paid crowds over 1,000 in 12 of them.

The Road Is Tougher, Especially Against These Pitching Staffs

South Carolina has dropped eight of its nine road contests in Southeastern Conference play this year.
Those eight losses have come against the No. 1, 2 and 3 ranked pitching staffs in ERA in the overall SEC stat rankings.
Alabama holds a 1.76 ERA, while Georgia stands second a 1.83 and Tennessee third at 1.96.
All three are also in the top 10 of the latest NCAA Division I Ratings Percentage Index.

The Schedule Has Been Tough

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 Arkansas weekend, South Carolina is 4-11 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.

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 nearly double the ground-ball outs (160) versus fly outs (83).
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 107 batters in 115 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 .148 batting average (20-of-135) with 69 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 1.33 ERA, Blue 1.39) than starting (Sarratt 3.35, Blue 3.61).
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 0.46 homers, 0.06 triples and 0.78 doubles per game, which stand first, fourth and seventh in the league, respectively.
The staff has given up only six runs in the fifth inning all year (37.1 innings). Six of those came in the series at No. 15/17 Georgia.