Gamecocks Open Longhorn Invitational with 9-4 Win Over Texas

AUSTIN, TEXAS (GAME ONE) – Nickie Blue tossed 4.1 innings of scoreless relief and Alyssa VanDerveer drove in four runs as South Carolina posted a 9-4 victory over the Texas Longhorns on Friday afternoon in the first of five games for the Gamecocks this weekend in the Longhorn Invitational. Carolina extended its season-opening winning streak to six games with the victory.

VanDerveer led an 11-hit attack with a double and triple, and added a pair of run-producing walks in the contest. Kamryn Watts contributed three hits and scored twice, while Krystan White drove in three runs. Kaylea Snaer and Kenzi Maguire each added a pair of hits.

The Gamecocks (6-0) jumped out in front with a run in the top of the second. After VanDerveer’s tripled off the right-centerfield wall, Tiarra Duffy came through with two-out double to center, scoring VanDerveer with the game’s first run.

The Gamecocks added two more in the third, taking advantage of a Longhorn miscue. With two outs and a runner at first, Kaylea Snaer hit a foul pop that should have ended the frame. Inexplicitly, the ball dropped harmlessly at the feet of the Longhorn second baseman, extending Snaer’s at bat. She took advantage, roping a double down the left field line. VanDerveer followed with a two-run double off the leftfield wall, extending Carolina’s lead to 3-0.

Texas (5-3) rallied in their half of the third, batting around in a four-run frame to take a 4-3 lead. The Longhorns collected six hits in the inning to chase Gamecock starter Jessica Elliott. Elliott surrendered seven hits and four runs with a pair of walks and a strikeout in 2.2 innings of work.

The Longhorns lead was short-lived as Carolina rallied for a three-spot of its own in the fourth. A throwing error, hit batsman, and back-to-back walks to Snaer and VanDerveer knotted the score at 4, then Krystan White delivered a two-run, two-out single off the base of the centerfield wall to put the Gamecocks back on top to stay, 6-4.

Carolina took advantage of some wildness in the circle to break the game open in a three-run fifth. After a leadoff walk to Taylor Williams, Maguire and Watts singled to load the bases. Mackenzie Boesel, VanDeveer and White followed with run-scoring walks to give the Gamecocks a five-run cushion.

Blue (3-0) did the rest, retiring 13 of the 15 batters she faced with one walk and one strikeout. Texas starter Tiarra Davis (0-2) was saddled with the loss after allowing six hits and six runs, three earned, in 3.2 innings.

GAMECHANGER

Krystan White broke a 4-4 tie with a bases loaded, two-run single on a 3-2 pitch in the top of the fourth inning and the Gamecocks never looked back.

KEY STAT

Nickie Blue tossed 4.1 innings of one-hit relief, retiring 13 of the 15 batters she faced to earn the win.

NOTABLE

• The Gamecocks ran their season-opening winning streak to six games.
• This afternoon’s game was the first of five games for the Gamecocks in Austin.
• The Gamecocks collected a season-high 11 hits in the contest.

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AUSTIN, TEXAS (GAME TWO) – The South Carolina softball team slugged out its seventh-straight victory to cap the opening day of the Texas Invitational Friday, downing Indiana 13-5 in five innings. Three Gamecocks (7-0) tallied a pair of hits, led by freshman Mackenzie Boesel’s two hits and three RBI, and seven batters had at least one run batted in to clinch the victory.

The offense kept the momentum built from the win over Texas and used it to jump out to a 7-0 lead after just two innings. Boesel opened the game with a home run in the bottom of the first, followed by a solo shot from Kaylea Snaer just two batters later. Boesel struck again with a two-run single in the second inning, and a pair of Hoosier errors in the field led to three more runs for the Gamecocks.

Indiana (2-6) was able to climb back into contention after picking up five unanswered runs between the third and fourth innings off South Carolina starting pitcher Cayla Drotar. In the home half of the fourth, Drotar’s offense put any chance of a comeback to rest, reeling off four-straight hits to plate four runs. Alyssa VanDerveer, Krystan White and Kennedy Clark all picked up RBI on base hits, and Shannon Plese capped the inning with a sacrifice fly.

Jessica Elliott took the mound in the fifth and pitched around a leadoff single for a scoreless frame, and the offense took it home with an RBI from Victoria Williams and a sacrifice fly from Snaer to clinch the run-rule win, 13-5.

KEY STAT

The gas that fueled the offense Friday night was getting base runners on and getting them moving. South Carolina was able to successfully move up the runner on 13 of 18 possible occasions, and the offense batted .563 (9-16) with runners on base and .500 (6-12) with runners in scoring position.

NOTABLE

• The Gamecock defense saw its streak of 40.2 errorless innings come to an end in the third inning against the Hoosiers. It was the team’s longest stretch without a miscue in almost a year to the day, when Carolina went six straight games from Feb. 20-26 of 2016.
• With 11 hits for the night, South Carolina’s lineup has cracked double digit hits in three of the last four games.
• Kaylea Snaer continued to shine in the Texas heat, knocking two more hits to finish with four in the Friday doubleheader. Her home run in the first inning was the 22nd of her career, giving her sole possession of fourth place on the program’s career home runs list.

QUOTABLE: HEAD COACH BEV SMITH

“Our offense came to play today! We truly displayed our depth with production throughout the lineup, from top to bottom. I’m excited to start the tournament with two wins.”

UP NEXT

South Carolina will play another doubleheader Saturday as part of the Texas Invitational. First up will be a rematch with the Hoosiers schedule for a 1:30 p.m. ET first pitch, then the Gamecocks will face Louisiana Tech at 7 p.m. to close day two. Fans can watch a tape-delayed stream of the two games on the Longhorn Network.