South Carolina Softball: Gamecocks moving on to championship game
By Kevin Miller
The South Carolina softball team has had an up-and-down season but has flashed moments of brilliance. Beverly Smith’s squad started 14-1 (and 21-2) before losing 3 out of their next 4 SEC series. A 5-game winning streak seemed to get the team back on track, but then they lost three straight conference series to finish the regular season with just a 9-15 record in SEC play. A victory in the final game of the season turned out to be the spark needed for something greater as the SEC Tournament began.
The Tournament started with 10-seed South Carolina softball matching up with the 7-seeded Texas A&M Aggies. Despite being a lower seed, the Gamecocks were confident after sweeping A&M during the regular season. Donnie Gobourne and Karsen Ochs combined to shutout the Aggies (Gobourne gave up 0 hits through her 5.1 innings), and Carolina scored in the top of the 8th to win in extra innings, advancing to the second round where the Georgia Bulldogs were waiting.
Georgia came into the matchup ranked 13th in the country, but Gobourne was masterful again. She held the Bulldogs scoreless through 5, and Bailey Betenbaugh limited them to just one run. Brooke Blankenship’s single in extra innings put the Gamecocks on top 2-1, a score they would not give up as Betenbaugh struck out two Bulldogs in a scoreless bottom of the 8th to secure the win. For the second day in a row, South Carolina softball upset a higher seed in extra innings.
Next up was Auburn. After the Gamecocks took a 1-0 lead, the 16th-ranked Tigers scored two quick runs off of Ochs, but Betenbaugh and Gobourne held them down while the Gamecock offense fought to retake the lead. Senior Jordan Fabian came up clutch at the most pivotal moment, smacking a two-run home run (complete with a big bat flip) that changed her team’s 1-run deficit into a 1-run lead in the top of the 7th. Gobourne shut the door in the inning’s bottom half, and the Gamecocks clinched an improbable SEC Tournament Championship Game berth.
South Carolina will take on the winner of Tennessee and Alabama. Both teams took two out of three games against the Gamecocks during their regular season series, but this version of the Lady Gamecocks is not the same team from earlier in the year.
The Championship Game will be broadcast on ESPN at 3:00.