Gamecocks Come Back In Walk Off Win Over Duke
COLUMBIA, S.C. —- No. 16 South Carolina softball scored five-unanswered runs the final two innings on its way to its largest comeback victory of the season in a 5-4 win over Duke on Wednesday at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field. Alyssa Kumiyama’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh with bases loaded and two outs gave the Gamecocks the walk-off victory.
The Gamecocks looked to be in trouble heading to the bottom of the sixth as Duke led 4-0 but three Carolina runs in the frame and an addition two in the bottom of the seventh thanks to Lauren Stewart’s bases-loaded walk and Kumiyama’s single helped Carolina earn its 22nd victory of the year.
With the win, head coach Beverly Smith earned her 300th career victory as a head coach in her career.
South Carolina (22-7, 1-5 SEC) found itself in a pitching battle through five innings against the always feisty Duke Blue Devils on Wednesday night.
Freshman Karly Heath was masterful in the circle, going four innings with just two hits and three strikeouts to help hold things at 0-0 heading to the fifth.
From there, Cayla Drotar took over as both teams traded a scoreless fifth and the game remained scoreless through five full innings of action.
Duke (12-17) took all the momentum in the top of the sixth, scoring four runs with two outs and the help of a Carolina fielding error to take a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the inning.
Carolina didn’t hang its head, though, and instead decided to come alive offensively in the bottom of the sixth. The scoring started with Stewart’s two-RBI double before Kumiyama’s RBI single cut the Duke lead to 4-3 heading to the seventh.
The top of the seventh wasn’t without drama, as Duke started the frame with a triple to the gap in right center. The Blue Devils eventually got runners to the corners with one out before a 2-4-6-5-4 caught stealing took a runner off the bases and gave the Gamecocks two outs. A pop up to short shortly after kept the score at 4-3 and gave Carolina a chance for a little magic.
The bottom frame of the final inning started with a Kenzi Maguire double before Mackenzie Boesel walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. The next at-bat, Jana Johns’ sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third with one out.
A Kennedy Clark walk with two outs set up the Stewart walk with bases loaded to tie the game at 4-4 before Kumiyama’s game-winning hit the next at-bat.
Kumiyama led the way at the plate going 2-for-4 with two RBI while Stewart went 1-for-2 with three RBI and a run scored.
Dixie Raley (7-1) earned the victory in the circle going one inning with just one hit and a strikeout.
NOTES:
- The win marked Carolina’s largest comeback victory of the season. The Gamecocks had previously won two games in which they erased three run deficits this year.
- Head coach Beverly Smith, a North Carolina graduate, earned her 300th career victory as a head coach against Duke tonight. All 300 have come at South Carolina.
- The walk-off win was Carolina’s first seventh-inning winning play since Krystan White’s walk-off home run to beat Hofstra on May 19, 2018, in the Columbia Regional.
- Carolina improved to 3-0 all-time against Duke with the win.
- Karly Heath has been lights out as of late. After tonight’s game, she boasts a 1.89 ERA with a 6-0 record and 37 strikeouts in 40.2 innings of work.
