Gamecock Softball Look To Make History In SEC Tournament Title Game
A little over one year ago, Beverly Smith and the South Carolina Gamecocks were knocked out of the SEC Baseball tournament in the first round by the Texas A&M Aggies. The loss ended what was a forgetful season for Carolina, as they finished 26-30 overall, marking the first losing season since 2012, Smith's second season in Columbia.
After the season, questions were lobbed by the fanbase regarding whether or not the program was heading in the right direction, where the locker room stood throughout the entire process and if the team could bounce back the following year.
Fast forward to today, and South Carolina has become one of the biggest stories in all of college softball, as they've made it to the SEC Tournament Championship game as a No. 10 seed, becoming the lowest-seeded team in SEC Softball history to accomplish such a feat. Later today, they'll look to become the lowest-seeded team to ever win the Tournament title.
This comes after a semifinal game filled with late game heroics, as star pitcher Donnie Gobourne came into the game in the fourth inning and shut down the Tigers' hitting lineup the rest of the way, while senior first baseman Jordan Fabian, with Auburn needing just one more out to win, hit a go-ahead 2-run homer in the top of the seventh inning. The Gamecocks wound up holding onto the lead in the bottom half of the inning and are now in position to win the title.
"That's what senior leaders do is come up in big moments, and that's what Jordan's done her whole career - I thought Donnie really dug deep today to go in, and shut it down and close out the win for us," Smith said after the victory.
While a lot of people likely didn't expect South Carolina to make it all the way to the championship game, the team hasn't wavered from their belief that they could find themselves here with who they have in their locker room, and they made that clear in their postgame presser after the win over Auburn.
"The amount of heart we have, the mentality that we have - just knowing that we deserve to be here and that we're capable of playing and beating any team in this conference," Donnie stated.
The Gamecocks title match against the Tennessee Volunteers begins at 3:00 pm EDT on ESPN.
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