Heath Tosses Complete Game Shutout In Win Over Winthrop
Sophomore improves to 5-0 on the year
COLUMBIA, S.C. —- No. 16 South Carolina softball’s Karly Heath tossed a complete-game shutout to help lead the Gamecocks to a 2-0 victory over Winthrop on Wednesday night at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field.
A Jana Johns solo home run to move into fifth all time in program history for career home runs and a Mackenzie Boesel single to right to score Heath proved to be the difference at the plate as Carolina moved to 2-0 on the week and 14-1 at home.
The Gamecock defense saved runs on multiple occasions, including two key double plays marking the first time since 2018 the Garnet and Black recorded two double plays in a single game.
Playing its fifth game in six day, South Carolina (16-6) showed the fight needed to survive a long season during the Wednesday night victory over Winthrop.
Johns opened the scoring in the bottom of the second with a solo home run to give Carolina a quick 1-0 lead through two. Boesel followed it up in the bottom of the third with a single to right to score Heath to give the Gamecocks the 2-0 lead they wouldn’t surrender.
Boesel led the way at the plate with a 2-for-3 performance while Katie Prebble, Johns and Heath helped Carolina to its five hits.
Heath (5-0) earned the win in the circle going all seven innings with just two hits allowed and seven strikeouts.
UP NEXT
Carolina welcomes No. 4 LSU to town for a three-game series starting Friday night at 6:00 PM. Friday night’s contest will stream on SEC Network+ while live stats will be on gamecocksonline.com.
NOTE
Senior pitcher Cayla Drotar dressed out on Wednesday night for the first time since sustaining an injury during the Feb. 14 game against Virginia Tech. Although she didn’t play, Drotar did take batting practice pregame at Coastal Carolina and threw light bullpens Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
