Gamecocks Close SEC Tournament

TUSCALOOSA, AL. —- South Carolina softball’s Katie Prebble blasted a three-run home run as LSU moved on in the 2021 Southeastern Conference Softball Tournament with a 7-3 win on Wednesday afternoon at Rhoads Stadium on the campus of Alabama.
 
The Tigers capitalized with two runs in each of the final two innings to secure the victory.
 
Prebble’s three-run blast in the top of the sixth cut the deficit to 5-3 before LSU pushed on with two more runs in the bottom frame to reach the four-run lead it wouldn’t surrender.
 
Leah Powell (10-7) took the loss in the circle.
 
Mackenzie Boesel, Kassidy Krupit, Chooch Carroll, Prebble and Kylee Gleason posted the six Carolina hits. Prebble recorded a 2-for-3 afternoon with a run and three RBI.
 
Notable

• Carolina owns eight Top-50 (RPI) wins this year, which ranks 14^th in the country (ahead of Virginia Tech, Wichita State, Delaware, Liberty and Stanford) excluding the other 12 SEC teams.
• The Garnet and Black played each of the Co-SEC Champions in three-game series this year. Beat No. 3 Florida on the road (one of just four teams to do so this year). Between No. 19 Arkansas and the Gators, Carolina had four losses of three runs or less and three of two runs or less against the conference champions.
• South Carolina has as many Top 50 NCAA RPI wins (8) as… Clemson (4), Michigan (3) and James Madison (1) combined – all nationally-ranked Top 25 teams – as of May 12.
• Although they don’t officially count toward SEC Standings, the Gamecocks earned a series win over Auburn, 2-1, with a win in Jacksonville to open the year and a victory in Tuscaloosa in the SEC Tournament.
• The Gamecocks’ two-best players have consistently played well all year – Mackenzie Boesel (.467) and Kenzi Maguire (.433) started the first 20 games on a career pace at the plate and have finished the final 20 games with the same level of play (Maguire hitting .455 and Boesel batting .354).