Gamecocks Defeat Georgia Southern Behind Strong Night From Oh
April 4, 2018
COLUMBIA, South Carolina –Freshman pitcher Kelsey Oh set the tone for the night, striking out the side in nine pitches to open the game as No. 11 South Carolina earned a 5-2 victory over Georgia Southern on Wednesday night at Carolina Softball Stadium. Oh didn’t allow a base runner through four innings until the Eagles poked a two-out single in the top of the fifth.
While Oh set the tone in the circle, Alyssa VanDerveer carried the Gamecocks at the plate early with a three-run blast in the bottom of the first to give Carolina an early 3-0 lead it wouldn’t surrender.
With the win, the Gamecocks improved to 31-6 (6-3 SEC) on the season and 16-0 at home.
South Carolina (31-6) couldn’t have asked for a much better start out of Oh as she struck out the side in the first before VanDerveer’s three-run homer in the bottom frame to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
Carolina continued its scoring in the bottom of the fifth as Kenzi Maguire tripled to score Tiara Duffy to make it 4-0. Mackenzie Boesel later brought home Maguire with a groundout to make it 5-0.
Georgia Southern later homered in the top of the sixth to make it 5-2 but Oh shut the Eagles down the remaining four outs to earn the victory.
Oh (10-2) went the distance, allowing just five balls to leave the infield and three total hits.
Maguire led the way at the plate going 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. VanDerveer also shined going 1-for-3 with a three-run home run.
Notes
- With tonight’s win, Carolina moved to 31-6 (6-3 SEC) on the year. Carolina is 16-0 at home on the year, and is the final remaining undefeated team at home in the SEC.
- Kenzi Maguire has absolutely shined at the plate her last 10 games, batting .382 with 13 hits and seven runs with six RBI.
- Carolina is now just three wins away from tying last season’s total (34).
- Head coach Beverly Smith moved to 258-184 after Wednesday’s game. She is the second-winningest coach in school history.
Up Next
No. 11 South Carolina returns to action for a key three-game SEC series against No. 20 Arkansas starting Friday at 6:00 PM ET on SEC Network Plus. Live stats will also be on gamecocksonline.com.
