South Carolina softball staves off elimination with win over Marist
Entering Saturday, South Carolina softball had no more room for error. It had a simple yet tall task. Win two games or the season would be over.
The first half of that task has been taken care of accordingly.
The Gamecocks took care of business in a 2-1 win over Marist Saturday afternoon.
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The win keeps their season alive with another game still to be played tonight.
It was a struggle to get anything going against opposing pitcher Kiley Myers. The Gamecocks only had two hits entering the seventh. Then, the late-inning magic reappeared.
With a runner on second and two outs, Brooke Blankenship drove an RBI single into right field to score the go-ahead run. It would be enough to keep South Carolina afloat.
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While the offense wasn’t clicking, the pitching held its own by keeping the Red Foxes in check.
After a tough start from Donnie Gobourne on Friday, Beverly Smith decided to put the ball in Rachel Vaughan’s hands with the season on the line. And she did what she had to do.
Vaughan pitched three scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out one.
South Carolina went to its bullpen early and called on Jori Heard, who pitched 2.1 innings. She ran into some trouble in the sixth, putting two runners aboard with one out. Not wanting to take any chances, Smith called on Bailey Betenbaugh to get out of it.
But Betenbaugh was unable to finish off the inning as she allowed the game-tying hit to Maddie Pleasants.
After Blankenship’s go-ahead hit that took the lead, the Gamecocks were three outs away from surviving into the next game. Gobourne, who gave up six runs less than 24 hours ago, entered to try and seal the deal.
Gobourne looked to be struggling with her command, throwing six straight balls at one point. But she bounced back and struck out the final two batters she faced to win the game.
Up next: South Carolina is right back at it and will face UCF, whom it lost to last night. First pitch is in roughly 35 minutes from Tallahassee.
