No. 10 Gamecocks Sweep Doubleheader to Earn Series Win at No. 3 LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 10/11 South Carolina softball team (27-7, 4-5) earned a doubleheader sweep on Sunday (Mar. 30) to earn the series victory over No. 3/3 LSU (31-4, 6-3). The Gamecocks took game one 5-3 in eight innings and secured the series with a 4-1 win in game two.

Quincee Lilio and Abigail Knight led Carolina with two hits on the day. Karley Shelton led the way with two RBIs.

GAME 1

Sam Gress (8-3) earned the complete game victory, striking out a season-high seven Tigers while scattering seven hits.

The Gamecocks jumped out to an early lead thanks to a pair of LSU errors. Lexi Winters brought home a run when the throw by the Tiger third baseman sailed high, allowing Arianna Rodi to score from second.

The Tigers answered by scoring a run in the third and another in the fifth.

South Carolina rallied in the seventh with one out. Lilio and Shelton hit back-to-back doubles to tie the game. After an out, Ella Chancey singled to right, scoring Shelton and giving Carlina the lead. LSU tied it in the bottom half of the inning to send it to extras.

In the eighth it was all Gamecocks. Knight singled and Natalie Heath was hit by a pitch. Three pitches later, Brooke Blankenship singled down the right field line to score Knight. After a sacrifice bunt moved runners up and a walk to Lilio loaded the bases, Shelton was hit in the head by a pitch and was fired up to bring home another run. The Tigers brought the tying run to the plate, but Gress pitched out of the jam and got two fly outs to end the game.

GAME 2

South Carolina again jumped out to an early lead with a run in the first and second innings. In the first, a pair of walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases for Knight, who drew a walk to score Lilio.

In the second, Emily Vinson drew a one-out walk and went to second on a wild pitch. Lilio singled through the right side to score Vinson. The Tigers would get the run back in the bottom half of the inning, but that would be their only run against starting pitcher Jori Heard.

Arianna Rodi led off the fifth inning with a double down the left field line, extending her on-base streak to 26 games. One out later Lexi Winters scored pinch runner Chloe Lackey on a single through the right side.

Pinch hitting in the sixth, freshman Mya Flindt sent a 2-1 pitch over the wall in left field for her first career home run.

Gress came on in the seventh to shut down the Tigers and earn her second save of the season. Heard (11-2) picked up the win, tossing six inning and allowing one run on four hits and striking out five batters.

The Gamecocks return home to host in-state foe Wofford April 2 at 6 p.m. for Bark in the Park presented by CVETS. For more information on tickets and how to sign up for the event click here.

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.