Gamecocks Take Down Georgia Southern
Carolina winning streak extended to six games
COLUMBIA, S.C. —- No. 16 South Carolina softball continued its season-best six-game winning streak thanks to a 5-3 victory over Georgia Southern on Wednesday night at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field. Katie Prebble paced the Gamecocks with three RBI as the Gamecocks improved to 10-0 at home.
Prebble highlighted the night in the bottom of the third as she launched a home run to the track beyond the wall in left field to help give the Gamecocks the 5-0 lead they wouldn’t surrender.
Karly Heath (2-0) earned the win in the circle going 4.0 innings with just one run and six strikeouts. Bailey Betenbaugh (1) earned her first career save in 0.2 innings with a strikeout.
South Carolina (11-3) came out of the gates swinging as Kenzi Maguire blasted her first home run of the season on the third pitch of the first Carolina at-bat of the night to give Carolina a quick 1-0 lead. Prebble’s sacrifice fly later in the inning to score Lauren Stewart extend the advantage to 2-0 through one.
Both teams traded a scoreless second before Prebble’s two-run home run with one out in the bottom of the third continued the scoring effort. Mackenzie Boesel’s stolen base later in the frame, with the help of an errant throw from the catcher, eventually led to another run as she scored from first and pushed the lead to 5-0 through three.
Georgia Southern put one run on the board in the top of the fourth before scoreless innings from both teams in the fifth and sixth make it 5-1 heading to the seventh.
The Eagles put the pressure on in the seventh as the tying run came to the plate with one out and they eventually scored two runs before Betenbaugh ended the game with a strikeout and fly out to right field as Carolina earned the 5-3 win.
Kassidy Krupit finished the night 2-for-2 while Maguire, Stewart, Prebble, Boesel and Haley Simpson had hits on the night.
As a staff Heath, Karsen Ochs and Betenbaugh allowed just four hits and finished with 10 strikeouts.
UP NEXT:
Carolina stays home once more for four games over Saturday and Sunday as it plays host to Troy and Charlotte for the Garnet and Black Challenge. All four games will be streamed on SEC Network+ with live stats available, as well.
