No. 11 Gamecock softball edges No. 20 Arkansas, 2-1 Friday

COLUMBIA, S.C. –No. 11 South Carolina softball opened its three-game series against No. 20 Arkansas with a 2-1 victory on Friday night at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field. Cayla Drotar went the distance in the circle, allowing consecutive hits just twice on her way to her fourteenth victory of the season.

After both teams traded scoreless frames through three, freshman Jana Johns opened up the scoring in the bottom of the fourth with a two-out double to score Jordyn Augustus and give the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead.

Kenzi Maguire later singled in the bottom of the fifth to score Kennedy Clark and give the Gamecocks breathing room with a 2-0 lead.

Drotar (14-2) never backed down against one of the better hitting teams in the conference, allowing just four hits through six innings to shut the Razorback offense down. She finished the night with just seven hits allowed and two strikeouts.

“Jana’s hit was clutch,” head coach Beverly Smith said. “That was the run that put us on the board. I even wrote on my scorecard, ‘clutch.’ She just battled and got a run for us.”

South Carolina (32-6, 7-3 SEC) knew it was in for a battle with No. 20 Arkansas coming to town fresh off its first conference sweep since 2013.

The Razorbacks (28-7, 5-5) looked primed to take an early lead in the top of the second after back-to-back hits made it runners on second and third with two outs before Drotar picked up the inning-ending strikeout to hold Arkansas scoreless.

Arkansas had another prime scoring chance in the fourth with a two-out triple before Drotar again got out of the inning with a scoreless frame thanks to a groundout to short.

Johns made the Razorbacks pay in the bottom frame, doubling with two outs to score Augustus from third to take a 1-0 lead.

Maguire couldn’t have asked for a much better time for her first hit of the night as she came through with a one-out single in the bottom of the fifth to make it 2-0 Gamecocks.

Arkansas tried to make things interesting in the seventh, scoring a run with two outs before Drotar got a groundout to second to hold the runners at first and second and give the Gamecocks a 2-1 win to open the series.

Johns and Maguire led the way at the plate, with both going 1-for-3 with an RBI. Mackenzie Boesel and Drotar also finished the night 1-for-3 while Kennedy Clark went 1-for-2 with a run scored.

USC Athletics contributed to the writing of this article.