No. 9 Gamecocks Earn Walk-Off Win Against No. 13 Georgia

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 9/9 South Carolina softball team (21-5, 1-4) celebrated its first SEC win with a 4-3 walk-off over No. 13/13 Georgia (21-5, 2-3) Saturday afternoon (Mar. 15).

Sam Gress (4-2) was electric early in the circle, going five scoreless innings to begin her start. She pitched seven innings total, allowing two earned runs in the sixth inning, but tallying five strikeouts across the game.

Ella Chancey and Lexi Winters each had two hits on the day. Winters and Abigail Knight led the way with two RBIs apiece. Arianna Rodi was also locked in at the plate and drew three walks to extend her on-base streak to 21 games. Her 28 walks on the season leads the team.

Winters and Knight put the Gamecocks on the board for an early lead with back-to-back RBI singles to right field in the bottom of the first inning. Winters’ second RBI came off a sacrifice fly to score Karley Shelton in the bottom of the fifth.

The Bulldogs tied the game with a trio of runs in the sixth inning, leading the way for the Gamecocks to walk it off in the seventh. Gress finished her day by striking out the last Bulldog swinging.

A walk from Rodi and back-to-back singles from Chancey and Winters loaded the bases with one out. That brought Knight to bat and on the second pitch, sent a groundball up the middle that was fielded by the shortstop, but the throw home was late, allowing Rodi to score and send the Gamecocks spilling onto the field in celebration.

The Gamecocks will look to take the rubber match of the series Sunday at 2 p.m.

For the latest on South Carolina Softball, visit GamecocksOnline.com or follow the team’s social media accounts on Twitter @GamecockSoftbll, Facebook /GamecockSoftball, and Instagram @GamecockSoftball.