Carolina Seals Series Win In Oxford
March 17, 2018
OXFORD, Miss. –No. 17 South Carolina sealed its first SEC series win of the year with a 5-2 victory over No. 23 Ole Miss on Saturday at the Ole Miss Softball Complex. Carolina mounted its fifth comeback win of the season when the opposing team scores first with three runs in the fifth to earn its second win over a ranked opponent in 2018.
The Rebels took an early 2-0 lead with two runs in the fourth, but a three-run fifth sparked with Kenzi Maguire‘s RBI triple to score two turned the tides. Mackenzie Boesel followed the triple up with an RBI hit of her own to make it 3-2 Gamecocks through five.
Dixie Raley (6-1) earned the victory in the circle, going all seven innings while striking out seven with just one earned run.
“My favorite thing about this team is our fight,” head coach Beverly Smith said. “Ole Miss went up on us and we answered right back. Krystan White did a great job with a double the next inning and I just really like our fight. Our ability to answer back today was great.”
South Carolina (24-3, 2-0 SEC) took its first lead of the game in the fifth thanks to three runs off the bats of Maguire and Boesel. Both teams traded a scoreless sixth before Maguire blasted her first home run of the season in the top of the seventh to extend the Gamecock lead to 5-2.
Maguire led the way at the plate for the Gamecocks, going 2-for-4 with a game-high four RBI. Boesel also shined, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. On the year Boesel is batting a team-best .398 with a team-high 25 RBI.
Notes —
Carolina earned its second victory over a ranked opponent with the win over Ole Miss on Saturday.
As a team, Carolina is batting .317 in the series with 19 hits and 12 RBI. Kenzi Maguire has led the way at the plate batting .375 with a team-best six RBI and three runs scored. Meanwhile, Cayla Drotar and Dixie Raley have posted a combined 1.00 ERA with nine strikeouts while holding Ole Miss to a low .163 batting average.
Carolina earned the series win over Ole Miss with the win today. This was Carolina’s first SEC road series win since the Gamecocks took down No. 22 Georgia in Athens, Ga., last year. This was also the second-straight time the Gamecocks took the series in Oxford.
Head coach Beverly Smith moved to 251-181 following the victory. She is the second-winningest coach in school history.
Up next — Carolina goes for the series sweep against No. 23 Ole Miss tomorrow with a 2:00 PM ET first pitch on SEC Network Plus. Live stats will also be provided on gamecocksonline.com while updates will be on Twitter.
