Gamecocks Ready For Supers
May 24, 2018
No. 9 South Carolina at No. 8 Arizona State
COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 9-seeded South Carolina travels to Tempe, Arizona, for a best-of-three game series against No. 8-seeded Arizona State starting Friday at 11:00 PM ET on ESPNU. The second game will be at 9:00 PM ET on ESPN2 while the finale is set for Sunday at 9:00 PM ET on ESPNU.
How to watch
All three games of the series will be on the ESPN Family of Networks. The first and finale games will be on ESPNU while the second game (on Saturday) will be on ESPN2. Live stats will be on NCAA.com.
The upcoming weekend
The Gamecocks (No. 11/12) head west for their first super in 11 years and just the second ever in program history to face Arizona State in a best 2-of-3 series to decide who goes to the WCWS in OKC next week.
Carolina comes into the weekend with an impressive 49-15 record, including a 15-9 mark in SEC play. Carolina closed the regular season winning eight of its last 10, including four wins over ranked opponents.
Carolina is set to be on TV for the 50th time this season with the first game of the Columbia Regional.
South Carolina’s opponent comes in with a 46-11 record. The series will be test of one of the best team ERAs in the country against one of the best home run hitting teams around.
Down to the last out… Then magic happened
It’s a story meant for Hollywood. Carolina trailed Hofstra 4-3 in an elimination game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and a runner on base. As her dad’s song blared over the speakers, senior Krystan White stepped to the plate and blasted a ball over the wall in left to save the 2018 season for the Gamecocks.
The Gamecocks went on to defeat Liberty twice the following day to advance to their second ever super regional.
White, who lost her father in a car accident earlier this season, has a history of walk offs. 67% of her home runs this season have been in walk off fashion.
Carolina finished the Columbia Regional with a 4-1 record with wins over UNCG, Hofstra and Liberty (twice).
The SEC Tournament… Not a bad run
The Gamecocks made some noise in the SEC Tournament, posting a 2-1 record as Carolina fell to Florida in its first SEC Tournament Championship game since 2001.
As a team the Gamecocks posted a 1.40 ERA with 12 strikeouts and just four walks. The Gamecocks were nearly perfect in the field with just one error and a .988 fielding percentage.
Home sweet home
Home is where the heart is, and it’s also where plenty of success has been found for the Gamecocks with an 25-2 record thus far.
Carolina is batting .305 in home games, outscoring opponents 157-56 (+101) in 27 games. The Gamecocks pitching staff has produced with a 1.91 ERA with 130 strikeouts and just 54 walks.
SEC! SEC! SEC!
Believe the hype or not, the SEC has controlled the postseason up to this point as an NCAA-best nine schools won their regional (Kentucky, South Carolina, LSU, Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas.
The nine schools in supers is an NCAA record, as were the nine regional hosts for the conference. The next closest for conference teams in a season getting to supers? SEC with 8 (2017) and the SEC with eight (2015).
Talk about the last 10 games of the regular season
Carolina closed the last 10 games of the regular season on fire, posting an 8-2 record while outscoring teams 71-31 (+40) with an incredible 18 home runs.
The offense was rolling, posting a .634 slugging percentage, .426 on-base percentage and 66 RBI. Kennedy Clark led the way, batting .484 with 15 hits, seven runs and eight RBI. Total, Carolina had had three people (Clark, VanDerveer and Boesel) hit above .400.
