Gamecocks Topple Florida State, Force Game 7 In Tallahassee Regional
Beverly Smith and her team have become a great underdog story since the end of the regular season, as they became the lowest-ranked seed to ever make to the championship game in the SEC Softball Tournament's history. Now, they're making noise once again, this time with bigger stakes riding on each game, as the Gamecocks have forced a Game 7 winner-take-all situation in the Florida State regional.
The Seminoles came into the NCAA Softball Regionals as the No. 3 overall national seed and likely as the heavy favorite in their regional due to have home-field advantage, and clearly, an immensely talented team. South Carolina's path to this Regional Final hasn't come easy, as they dropped their first game in the regional to the UCF Knights 6-1, putting them in the loser's bracket where they survived a low scoring affair against Marist.
The Gamecocks then had to knock off the Knights in a single elimination game after UCF lost their game against Florida State in the winners bracket, which they accomplished defeating the Knights 10-1. This lead to South Carolina playing their third straight do-or-die game early Sunday morning against the Florida State Seminoles.
South Carolina, not known for their offensive prowess, struck early in the first inning, with a single by senior captain Jordan Fabian being followed up by two sacrifice bunts, one which was compounded by a Seminoles error and led to two Gamecock runs being scored. On the flip side, Carolina's starting pitcher Karsen Ochs had a phenomenal start, going three innings deep and giving up just three base runners in that stretch.
South Carolina's star pitcher, Donnie Gobourne, would take the mound in the fourth inning and was her usual self, striking out four batters and not allowing a single Seminole to reach base in her four innings of work. Added insurance would come in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Aniyah Black would strike a hard liner in the middle of the infield, scoring two runs from second and third and effectively dashing Florida State's dreams of a late-game comeback.
South Carolina is set to take the field again at around 1:55 PM EDT on ESPN+, with the winner heading onto the Super Regionals.
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