Gamecocks Earn Two Wins On Wednesday

COLUMBIA, S.C. —- South Carolina softball earned a pair of victories over Furman on Wednesday night at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field to push the winning stream to three games. Carolina defeated the Paladins 9-1 in six innings in the first game before closing the doubleheader with a 4-1 victory in the second contest.

The Gamecocks hit .345 as a team between the two games with four extra-base hits and a .419 on-base percentage. Kenzi Maguire posted a team-best four hits on the day with three runs scored. Jordan Fabian was 2-for-6 with four RBI on two home runs while Chooch Carroll, Kassidy Krupit and Cayla Drotar brought home two runs each.

In the circle it was Drotar and Leah Powell picking up the two wins.

The story of the game was two-out hitting as South Carolina finished 7-for-19 as a team with two down in an inning while holding Furman to a 0-for-13 day in the same situation. The Paladins finished 0-for-4 with bases loaded between the two games and were just 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position.

SOUTH CAROLINA 9 | FURMAN 1 (SIX INNINGS) – RECAP

The Gamecocks continued over the momentum from Sunday’s series finale win in Oxford in a big way with a 9-1 run-rule victory in six innings over Furman in the first game of the doubleheader.

Carolina posted four runs in the bottom of the first thanks to a Cayla Drotar RBI and Jordan Fabian’s three-run home run to give the Garnet and Black an early 4-0 lead.

The scoring continued in the third with two more runs highlighted with Riley Blampied’s RBI single before Kassidy Krupit’s RBI single in the fourth made it 7-0 in favor of the Gamecocks heading to the fifth.

Furman posted a run in the top of the sixth in a bid to extend the game, but Chooch Carroll’s two-out double to score two in the bottom frame was enough to secure the win.

Cayla Drotar (3-4) was great once again in the circle. She went all six innings with just four hits and one run. She had four strikeouts in 79 pitches thrown.

Mackenzie Boesel shined at the plate with a 3-for-4 game with two runs while Blampied finished 2-for-3 with an RBI.

SOUTH CAROLINA 4 | FURMAN 1 – RECAP

The Gamecocks finished off the doubleheader sweep over Furman with a 4-1 victory in the second game. Three runs over the final two innings proved to be the difference in Carolina’s third-straight win.

South Carolina started the scoring in the bottom of the first with Kassidy Krupit’s single to take an early 1-0 lead.

The two teams traded scoreless frames in the second, third and fourth innings before Furman tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fifth. It didn’t last long, though, as Cayla Drotar’s RBI in the bottom frame put the Gamecocks on top 2-1 heading to the sixth.

Two more runs in the sixth thanks to Jordan Fabian’s second home run of the day and Kenzi Maguire’s two-out single gave South Carolina the 4-1 lead it wouldn’t surrender.

Leah Powell (6-2) earned the win in the circle. She came on in relief and pitched three innings with just one hit allowed and two strikeouts. Furman notably loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the sixth before Powell got out of the frame untouched.

Maguire posted a 3-for-4 performance at the plate with two runs and an RBI. Aaliyah White finished 2-for-3 with a run.

 NOTABLE

• South Carolina has now won three-straight games heading into its weekend series with Tennessee.
• Over the past 10 games, Kenzi Maguire is hitting a team-best .645 on 20 hits with 15 runs, five doubles and eight RBI. Mackenzie Boesel has been stellar as well with 13 hits, 11 runs, six extra-base hits and seven RBI.
• Jordan Fabian has been an RBI machine over the past 10 games with a team-best 13 over that stretch. She has three home runs and three doubles.
• You can’t forget about Cayla Drotar during this stretch of 10 games, either. She’s hitting .318 on seven hits with two home runs and 11 RBI.
• Kenzi Maguire is 8-for-11 (.727) during this three-game winning streak with five runs. Riley Blampied is 5-for-9 with two runs, a home run and four RBI.