Homers And Dominant Pitching Lead Gamecocks To Victory Over Winthrop
April 11, 2018
Rock Hill, S.C. –No. 11 South Carolina softball used a combination of timely hitting and dominant pitching to earn a 7-0 win over Winthrop on Wednesday night at Tyler Field. The pitching duo of Dixie Raley and Kelsey Oh allowed just four hits on the night while striking out eight. With the win, Carolina matched last season’s win total with 15 games remaining in the regular season.
The pitching pair didn’t allow a Winthrop hit the final 16 batters as Raley moved to 9-3 on the year with the victory in four innings of work. She allowed just four hits while striking out three. Oh shut Winthrop down in relief, allowing no hits in three innings with five strikeouts.
South Carolina (34-7) was paced offensively with two early home runs. Cayla Drotar blasted a deep shot to centerfield two pitches into the second while Alyssa VanDerveer sent one over the wall in right in the top of the third to give the Gamecocks a 2-0 lead through three.
The Carolina offense kicked it into high gear in the fifth, scoring five runs to extend its lead to 7-0 through five. VanDerveer continued her solid night in the fifth, opening the scoring with a single to score two. Drotar continued the fifth-inning scoring with a shot down the line in left to score one to make it 5-0 Gamecocks with one out.
Kennedy Clark kept things going in the fifth with a sacrifice fly to score one before Tiara Duffy‘s RBI double made it 7-0 Gamecocks through five.
VanDerveer shined at the plate, going 2-for-2 with a run scored and two RBI. Drotar also shined going 2-for-3 with two RBI. Carolina finished the night with 10 hits from seven different players, three of which finished with multiple hits.
Notes
- With tonight’s win, Carolina moved to 34-7 (8-4 SEC) on the year. Carolina is 18-1 at home on the year and has taken both home SEC series (No. 2 Tennessee and No. 20 Arkansas) thus far.
- With the series win on Sunday, Carolina sealed the series victory against Arkansas for the sixth-straight time. This was the Gamecocks’ third SEC series win of the year, with all three coming over ranked opponents. This was also the first time Carolina has ever won three SEC series against ranked opponents.
- With 15 games remaining in the regular season, Carolina has matched last season’s win total with 34. With a win on Sunday, the Gamecocks have matched last seasons victory mark in conference play (eight wins).
- Head coach Beverly Smith moved to 261-185 after Wednesday’s game. She is the second-winningest coach in school history.
Up Next
No. 11 South Carolina closes its four-game road trip with a key SEC series on the road against No. 6 Florida starting Friday night at 6:00 PM ET. All three games will be on SEC Network Plus while live stats will be on gamecocksonline.com.
