April 25, 2014
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina (33-17) used 13 hits that included four doubles and a triple to power past Longwood (34-14) 14-0 in five innings on Friday night at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field.
Sophomore left fielder Ansley Ard went 3-for-3 with two doubles, two runs and three RBI to lead the offense, while both senior right fielder Chelsea Hawkins and freshman designated player Victoria Williams had two hits and two RBI. Hawkins doubled and scored as well. Junior first baseman Olivia Lawrence doubled and drove in two, while redshirt freshman third baseman Lauren Masters tallied the Gamecock triple.
The Gamecocks posted single runs in the first and second. Williams brought home the first run with two outs in the first with her hit to center, scoring Masters after she tripled with one out in the inning. In the second, senior shortstop Dana Hathorn was hit by a pitch with one out and went to third on Ard’s single. With senior second baseman Ashlyn Masters at the plate, Ard stole second, and the Lancers dropped the throw at second, letting Hathorn score. Ard took third on Masters’ fly to right, but she was stranded there.
Seven runs scored in the Gamecock third. Hawkins hit a leadoff single, and junior catcher Sarah Mooney walked for the second time in the game. Williams sent one inside the right-field line, sending Hawkins home to start the scoring. Lawrence doubled, scoring both Mooney and senior pinch runner Brooke Barnhill to make it 6-0. Two groundouts got Longwood an out away from ending the inning, but Ard doubled to the left-field corner, plating freshman pinch runner Mackenzie Moler. Ashlyn Masters walked on four pitches, and Lauren Masters got hit to load the bases, setting up Hawkins’ double over the third-base bag, which brought home two. The Lancers made a bad relay throw that allowed Lauren Masters to score to make it 9-0.
Five more runs came across in the fourth for the Gamecocks. Loading the bases after singles by Barnhill and junior centerfielder Kristen Struett around a walk to Lawrence, senior Codee Yeske produced a pinch-hit single for the first RBI of the frame. Ard doubled in two more, while freshman Macey Webb tallied a pinch-hit single, the first of her Gamecock career, to score Yeske and make it 13-0. Sophomore Jordan Bizzell sent home the final run on a groundout that ended the inning.
Redshirt junior pitcher Julie Sarratt (16-10) tossed a five-inning shutout, giving up three hits and four walks while striking out six in the victory. Longwood’s Libby Morris (15-9) took the loss, allowing nine runs, eight earned, on eight hits and three walks in three innings.
The two teams finish the brief series on Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT.
