Blampied and Fabian Homer as Gamecocks Beat Cougars
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina softball team earned a mid-week victory over in-state foe the College of Charleston 10-3 Thursday night (Mar. 17). The Gamecocks head into the weekend 17-8 overall.
Maddie Gallagher led Carolina going 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Riley Blampied and Aaliyah White each finished with two hits. Blampied and Jordan Fabian led the Gamecocks with two RBIs on the night. South Carolina spread the wealth, as eight different players recorded a hit, drove in a run, or scored a run.
The Gamecocks opened the scoring in the bottom of the first when Blampied connected on her fourth home run of the season, a two-run shot to left-center. Carolina extended its lead in the second, scoring four runs. White and Carlie Henderson had back-to-back RBI singles. Fabian followed with a two-run shot of her own, her sixth of the season.
The Cougars got a two-run home run of their own in the third, before Carolina came back with two runs of their own. Gallagher had an RBI double over the left fielder’s head and Kassidy Krupit followed with an RBI singled up the middle.
CofC added a run in the fourth on a solo home run. South Carolina again was able to get the run back in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI groundout by Katie Prebble.
The final run of the game came on a groundball by Giulia Desiderio that allowed White to score.
Rachel Vaughan earned her third win of the season, throwing 2 1-3 innings of relief. She allowed no runs on three hits while striking out two. Leah Powell started in the circle, tossing 3 2-3 innings, giving up three runs, two earned, while striking out five. Kelsey Oh came on for the final inning, striking out two, and faced her younger sister Kayla, who is a freshman for the Cougars.
The Gamecocks head west for an SEC series at No. 19 Auburn, which begins Saturday, March 19, at 2 p.m. ET.
For the latest on South Carolina Softball, visit GamecockSoftball.com or follow the team’s social media accounts on Twitter @GamecockSoftbll, Facebook /GamecockSoftball, and Instagram @GamecockSoftball.
