Gamecocks Walk Off Tennessee

COLUMBIA, S.C. —- In one of the more unusual endings you’ll ever see in a game, South Carolina Softball walked-off No. 16 Tennessee in a 3-2 victory on Saturday night in the series opener in the bottom of the eighth at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field.
 
With bases loaded and one out, Riley Blampied earned a sacrifice fly out on her foul fly out to the first baseman who ran into her catcher behind the plate, which allowed Maddie Gallagher to score from third to earn the win.
 
The Gamecocks have now won four-straight games in the series over the Lady Vols with three coming in walk-off fashion.
 
“I was told when I got in to pinch run to slide in hard and I saw them fall over,” Gallagher said on the final plate at the plate. “So, I said let’s try to make something happen and I got there and made something happen.”
 
South Carolina took control of the game early as Ashley Rogers’ ball that got away from the catcher in the bottom of the second allowed Skylar Trahan to score and put the Gamecocks on top 1-0 early.
 
The scoring continued in the bottom of the third as Mackenzie Boesel doubled to the gap in left center to score Kenzi Maguire from first to make it 2-0 in favor of the Garnet and Black.
 
Karsen Ochs earned the Saturday-night start and was tremendous. She went six innings with just three hits allowed. She did not allow a hit through five innings.
 
Tennessee scored two in the top of the seventh thanks to back-to-back home runs before Leah Powell (7-2) stepped into the circle and earned the win in 2.0 innings of work with no runs and just one hit allowed.
 
Kassidy Krupit led the way at the plate with a 2-for-4 night and two doubles. Cayla Drotar showed her eyes with three walks and a 1-for-1 night. Her single in the top of the eighth set the wheels in motion for the walk-off win.
 
NOTABLE

• South Carolina has now won four-straight games in the series, with three of the past four coming as walk-off wins.
• This is South Carolina’s longest winning streak in the series since winning seven-straight games between 2001-2003.
• Carolina has won four-straight games in 2021 now. It’s the second-longest active winning streak in the conference.
• For those scoring at home, the official score on the final play was FF3 SAC to Riley Blampied.
• The Gamecocks will look to earn their first SEC series win since 2019 with a victory on Sunday or Monday.