Carolina Seals Mississippi State Series With Big First Inning
April 28, 2018
COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 13 South Carolina softball scored six runs in the first to jump out to the 6-1 lead it wouldn’t surrender in an 8-1 win over No. 23 Mississippi State on Saturday at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field to earn series win No. 5 on the year. Alyssa VanDerveer‘s grand slam in the bottom of the first sparked six runs on four hits in the first frame as the Gamecocks batted around to open the game.
The six runs were the most the Gamecocks have scored in the first inning this season, and gave the Gamecocks their first 40-win season since 2003.
Kelsey Oh (12-3) earned the victory in the circle, going all seven innings to improve to 4-2 in SEC games this year.
The Gamecocks (40-11, 13-7 SEC) didn’t panic when the Bulldogs scored one in the top of first to take a 1-0 lead. Instead, Carolina batted around and scored a season high for runs in a first inning.
A Kenzi Maguire double, Mackenzie Boesel single and Cayla Drotar hit by pitch loaded the bases with no outs before VanDerveer hit Carolina’s fourth grand slam of the year to make it 4-1 Gamecocks.
Tiara Duffy continued the scoring a few batters later with an RBI double to score Jana Johns before Duffy later stole home on a double steal to make it 6-1 Gamecocks through one inning of action.
Oh held the game at 6-1 her next four frames in the circle before Kennedy Clark‘s two-run homer in the fifth extended the Carolina lead to 8-1 through five.
Carolina finished the day with eight hits from six different batters, with Boesel accounting for the multi-hit performance.
Notes
- With today’s win, Carolina moved to 40-11 (13-7 SEC) on the year. The 40 wins is the most in the Beverly Smith era, as are the 13 conference wins. Carolina has now earned 40 wins in a season for the first time since 2003 with five games left in the regular season.
- Carolina has now won series No. 5 on the year, with four coming at home. This was also the fourth over a ranked foe.
- The Gamecocks have hit a few home runs their past six games. In fact, Carolina has hit 13 over their last six games. As a team, the Gamecocks are hitting .344 with 55 hits with a .688 slugging percentage during that stretch while outscoring teams 40-12.
- With today’s victory, the Gamecocks have won six-consecutive games. This is Carolina’s longest winning streak since winning 17-straight earlier this year.
Up Next
No. 13 South Carolina closes a key three-game series against Mississippi State on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET on SEC Network Plus. Live stats will also be on gamecocksonline.com.
