The South Carolina softball team opened its season with a 3-1 record during the Gamecock Invitational this weekend at the Carolina Softball Stadium.
Comeback victories and double-digit run-scoring displays helped the Gamecocks begin the weekend with three wins, but a Sunday afternoon loss prevented them from heading into the week undefeated.
Friday
On Opening Day, the Gamecocks came from behind to steal a win from Virginia, winning 3-2.
Head coach Beverly Smith said it was "really important" for the team to get the comeback victory right out of the gate.
"The one thing we talked about is this team's not going to have any quit," Smith said. "Our passion isn't going to go up and down with the scoreboard, so we were just waiting to try to capitalize on some back-to-back things for us today."
Through four innings, the Gamecock offense couldn't figure out sophomore left-handed pitcher Savannah Henley. However, the team broke through in the fifth when Katie Prebble delivered a two-run triple to take the lead.
"I had teammates in front of me that worked really hard to get on-base, so I was just having a plan of scoring them and I waited for a pitch that was right for me and I executed," Prebble said.
Outside of a solo home run in the seventh inning, sophomore right-handed pitcher Leah Powell controlled the tempo of the game and stifled Virginia's offense. Only needing 73 pitches in her first complete game of the season, she allowed one earned run while striking out three batters.
After taking an early lead, the Cavaliers had no answers for Powell, as they only picked up two hits in 24 at-bats. Powell said a lot of the pressure was taken off her shoulders once the Gamecocks took the lead.
"Going into it, there wasn't pressure cause I knew my defense could get it done and our offense could get it done," she added. "For [Prebble] getting that pitch, it was just a little drop of intensity and stress."
South Carolina added a key insurance run in the sixth inning, as sophomore second baseman Riley Blampied hit her first home run of the season.
Saturday
South Carolina had a lot of momentum from Friday's game going into the matchup against Lipscomb. After struggling from a pitching standpoint the Gamecocks rallied to win, 12-6.
Junior Pitcher, Bailey Betenbaugh, pitched an effective three innings in the circle after graduate student Kelsey Oh started off slow, and got pulled early in the game.
"It means a lot to me, for my team being behind me," Betenbaugh said. "It's my first game of the season, so I thought it went really well for the team."
Betenbaugh finished the game with six strikeouts in three innings.
"I thought we did really well at the plate, and I thought we did well on defense," Betenbaugh said. "We've had five double plays so far, which is something we've been working on a lot."
From an offensive standpoint, South Carolina scored 12 runs, with Prebble responsible for three of them.
"It feels great, and it's nice knowing that my team is doing their job as well," Prebble said.
In both games combined, Prebble had two home runs.
"I'm looking forward to taking these three wins into tomorrow, because I think it's really good momentum for us as a group," Prebble said.
Going into game two against George Washington, the Gamecocks continued to dominate offensively.
Sophomore outfielder Maddie Gallagher, senior catcher Jordan Fabian and freshman infielder Emma Sellers were the leading scorers, all earning three runs apiece.
"We talk about playing Gamecock softball," Smith said. "It's important for us to come out and play good defense, and I just think we got behind on hitters and gave up too many free bases."
Junior Karsen Ochs and Powell shared the circle for South Carolina in game two. Ochs pitched two innings with an ERA of 5.06, and Powell also pitched two innings finishing with an ERA of 1.86.
The Gamecocks finished this game early with a run-rule after the fifth inning, winning 14-5.
"We've seen a lot of really good softball," Smith added. "We've won in different ways and we've had different people on our team step up ... everything's been really good."
Sunday
South Carolina suffered its first defeat of the season Sunday afternoon, losing to North Carolina 8-3.
Despite the loss, Smith said she thought the team had a good weekend overall.
"We learned a lot about our team this weekend," Smith said. "Certainly, we wanted a different outcome in this game, but I like what I saw from my team and I think we got a lot to refocus on this next week and build on."
A common thread throughout the weekend, South Carolina found themselves down on multiple occasions early in the game — 1-0 after the top of the first, and 3-1 after the top of the third.
However, the Gamecocks were able to overcome those deficits to stay in the game.
Fabian scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at one run apiece in the bottom of the first. In the bottom of the fourth, an RBI groundout by Gallagher and a Fabian double knotted the game at three.
"I thought we had an answer in a lot of the innings," Smith said. "We might give up a run, and we'd come back and score one, and I think that just shows the grit that this team has."
A solo home run by redshirt sophomore outfielder Kianna Jones in the sixth shifted momentum back in the Tar Heels' favor, and they kept it for the rest of the game, scoring four runs in the final frame to seal the victory.
Smith says it is important for the team to look towards the long term since it has most of the season left to play.
"This is a marathon, not a sprint," Smith said. "We got a lot of at-bats, a lot of games and opponents."
South Carolina returns to the Carolina Softball Center Wednesday at 5 p.m. to face off against Charlotte.