Carolina Closes Gamecock Invitational With Two Wins
Feb. 18, 2018
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina softball remained undefeated in the five years of the Gamecock Invitational and extended its season-long winning to six games with a pair of victories Sunday to close out the tournament at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field. The Gamecocks defeated Georgetown, 5-3, before following it up with a 7-2 victory over Mercer.
Kamryn Watts led the way on the day going 4-for-5 with a run scored between the pair of games. Mackenzie Boesel shined at the plate, as well, going 3-for-6 with three runs and an RBI on the day. Alyssa Kumiyama and Kennedy Clark both finished with a team-high three RBI.
Through 14 innings of work between starting pitchers Cayla Drotar and Kelsey Oh, the Carolina pitching staff allowed just seven hits while striking out 14. The pair held opposing batters to a low .146 batting average between the Hoyas and Bears.
“This was a good win for us,” head coach Beverly Smith said on the Mercer game. “This was a strong Mercer team we just beat today. I felt like our hitters came to the plate and were relentless. But what I was most impressed with was our defense. I thought we had a couple back-breaking plays for Mercer. I think they were huge momentum shifts for us.”
Georgetown Recap —
Carolina opened the game with three runs in the first, highlighted with Kennedy Clark‘s triple to score a run. The Gamecocks led 3-0 after one before Georgetown cut the lead to 3-1 with a run in the fourth.
The scoring continued in the bottom of the fourth in a big way as Alyssa Kumiyama blasted a home run to the soccer practice fields beyond centerfield to extend the lead before Kenzi Maguire‘s RBI single up the middle made it 5-2 Gamecocks.
The Hoyas attempted one last comeback effort in the seventh with a two runs to make it 5-3 Carolina, but the Gamecocks completed the victory with Kelsey Oh‘s seventh strikeout of the day to close out the game.
Oh (2-1) finished with a complete-game win while allowing just two hits to go along with her seven strikeouts. Clark led the way at the plate going 2-for-3 with a run and RBI.
Mercer Recap —
Carolina followed the win over the Hoyas with a strong 7-2 win over a speedy Mercer team that came into the game with just one loss on the season.
After the Bears took an early 1-0 lead in the first, the Gamecocks responded with two runs of their own to take a 2-1 lead.
Mercer tied things at 2-2 in the fourth before the Gamecocks opened up things in the fifth with a five-run inning.
Clark’s second triple of the day scored two to kick the scoring effort off and give the Gamecocks a 4-2 lead. After Kumiyama’s RBI single, Krystan White hit Carolina’s third triple of the day and second of the game to extend the Carolina lead to 7-2.
Cayla Drotar (5-0) earned the victory in the circle going all seven innings with seven strikeouts and just five hits allowed.
Kumiyama led the way at the plate going 2-for-3 with two RBI.
NOTES —
The Gamecocks have scored at least one run in all 10 games this season. Dating back to last season, Carolina has done so in 11 of its last 12 games.
Head coach Beverly Smith improved to 236-179 with the win. She is the second-winningest coach in school history.
The Gamecocks incredibly hit three triples on the day between the two games (Kennedy Clark and Krystan White).
With hits in both games today, Mackenzie Boesel extended her season-high and team-high hitting streak to six games. Kenzi Maguire has now reached base in all 10 games to start the season, as well.
With the four wins this weekend, South Carolina improved to 20-0 all-time in the Gamecock Invitational. Carolina has now won six-straight overall in 2018.
UP NEXT —
Carolina returns home for the fifth-straight time to face North Carolina on Tuesday at 6:00 PM ET on SEC Network Plus. Live stats and updates will also be provided on Twitter.
