Feb. 12, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Senior Jessica Elliott kept the Gamecocks’ shutout streak going, while the offense exploded again in a 14-0 (5) victory over Presbyterian (1-3) in Sunday’s first game for South Carolina (4-0).
Two Gamecocks tallied two doubles: senior Victoria Williams and sophomore Kenzi Maguire. Maguire scored three runs and tallied two RBI, while both freshman Mackenzie Boesel and junior Krystan White also tallied two RBI. Sophomore Tiara Duffy added her first career home run, a three-run shot, to lead the offense.
Elliott (2-0) allowed one hit and one walk in the five-inning shutout, striking out six while using 77 pitches. Presbyterian starter Katie Brown (1-1) took the loss, allowing eight runs, five earned, on four hits and three walks in 2.1 innings of work.
A two-error play put the Gamecocks up 3-0 in the second. After Maguire was hit by a pitch and sophomore Lex Hull singled, senior Taylor Williams hit a slow roller to third. The Blue Hose fielder mishandled the ball then, rushing to try to get a runner already on the bag, threw the ball into right field, which let all three Gamecocks score.
In the third, five more Gamecocks scored. White drove in the first two with an RBI single to center, while Maguire doubled home White. With two down, Boesel tallied a two-RBI single to make it 8-0. The six runs in the fourth all came with two down. Maguire’s second double brought in White, who reached on a hit-by-pitch. Hull brought home Maguire with a base hit. After another HBP, Duffy stepped in and drove one over the wall at the left-field corner for the three-run blast. Boesel followed with a single, and Victoria Williams doubled her home.
GAME CHANGER
While the offense was nice, Elliott’s pitching induced lots of weak contact and shut down Presbyterian’s offense.
KEY STAT
The Gamecocks posted their fourth straight shutout, the first time since 2014 that the team has done that.
NOTABLES
Maguire’s HBP in the second ties her for sixth in program history with Jacqueline Wetherbee (2006-09) and Kaitlin Westfall (2009-12).
While Maguire gets her first career two-double game, Victoria Williams records her fourth.
Duffy hit her first home run as well as posting her career-best three RBI.
Maguire’s three runs scored are also a career best.
TWEET OF THE GAME
@GamecockSoftbll inside the park on an error? WE’LL TAKE IT
– riley hull (@rileyhull_44) February 12, 2017
