Regular season records usually hold zero merits in the postseason. The South Carolina Gamecocks are proving that this week in the SEC Softball Tournament.
The No. 10 seeded Gamecocks stunned No. 2 Georgia on Thursday with a late run in extra innings to earn the 2-1 win. On Friday, South Carolina once again scored go-ahead runs in the 7th inning to knock off No. 3 Auburn in the SEC Tournament semi-finals.
Auburn took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half of the 2nd inning, a lead that would remain until the top of the 7th inning when South Carolina’s Jordan Fabian hit a two-run home run with two outs in the frame to take the lead away from the Tigers.
Auburn outhit the Gamecocks, 6-3, but stranded nine runners on base. Despite that, head coach [autotag]Mickey Dean[/autotag] says that he was pleased with his team’s ability to battle.
“Both teams battled well,” Dean said Friday. “It wasn’t the cleanest game. Sometimes that all you ask of your team is to go out there and battle and play. We’ll go back and look at the mistakes and make adjustments before the remainder of the postseason.”
South Carolina kicked off scoring in the 1st inning on a sacrifice fly by Aniyah Black that was deep enough to score Zoe Laneaux from 3rd base. Auburn tied the game in the 1st on a single by [autotag]Makayla Packer[/autotag] that turned into an error to score Skylar Elkins. Packer scored later in the inning on a two-out double to right field by Rose Roach.
Six different players recorded a hit for the Tigers, with Roach being credited with the lone RBI and extra-base hit. Newly named SEC Pitcher of the Year, [autotag]Maddie Penta[/autotag], tossed 3.0 innings in her start. She allowed three walks and struck out four while allowing an unearned run to score. [autotag]Shelby Lowe[/autotag] was credited with the loss after allowing two runs and three hits in 4.0 innings of relief while striking out four.
With the win, South Carolina moves on to the SEC Tournament championship, where they will face the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, Tennessee, on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT. Auburn will learn its’ NCAA Regional fate on Sunday during the tournament selection show that will air at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
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