The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 13, 2004, Page 9, Image 9
Softball team faces off against
top teams in Florida tournament
BY GREG ROBERTS
THE UAMKCOCK
The USC softball team puts its
4*0 record to the test this weekend
against some of the nations’s top
teams.
The 16th-ranked Florida State
Seminoles will play host to the
Sunshine State Tournament in
Tallahassee, Fla. •
Thus far, the Gamecock softball
squad swept two double headers
over Charlotte and North
Carolina. Third baseman
Samantha Jennings leads the
team in batting average with .538,
on base percentage with .571, slug
ging percentage with 1.385, and
runs scored with six so far in the
early stages of the year.
1 lie enaneiige uegiiio wucu
USC faces the No. 4 team in the na
tion, Oklahoma. The Sooners, 8-0,
have given up only 11 runs in their
eight victories thus far this sea
son. Gamecock pitching hopes to
slow down the powerful Sooner of
fense, especially Heather
Scaglione, who hit a two-run
homer in Oklahoma’s win over
Oklahoma Christian, helping her
earn Big XII Player of the Week
honors.
Next on the Sunshine state
tournament schedule for the
| Gamecofcks is Southern
Mississippi, who recently had its
last contest versus Nicholls State
postponed.
In the early game on Saturday,
USC faces a tough Illinois team
that won a share of the title at the
LSU Tiger Classic earlier this sea
son. The Fighting Illinois beat the
15th-ranked Tigers in their own
stadium, 7-2, on their way to the
championship game. In their win
over LSU, Amanda Fortune
pitched a complete game and Erin
Jones put the victory within
reach thanks to a three run
homer. In the championship,
Illinois battled No. 4 Oklahoma to
a 2-2 tie. giving each a share of
LSU Tiger Classic. After playing
Illinois, USC must shift its focus
to Florida State.
noriaa stare uruugiu 11s coacn
to within one game of a huge mile
stone after clinching the title of
the Seminole Classic by beating
Florida A&M 9-1 in the champi
onship game. The Gamecocks
hope to slow the momentum that
the Seminoles have built in recent
weeks, because of the milestone of
1,000 wins that their coach, Dr.
JoAnne Graf, finally reached last
Wednesday night.
FSU was given a tough game by
the Mercer Bears (3-1), but" three
run sixth inning put the game out
of reach and Florida State pre
vailed 5-1, giving its coach one of
the most elite honors in NCAA
history.
After facing the Seminoles on
Saturday, the Gamecocks will
have a night to rest before they
take on the Western Kentucky
Hilltoppers on Sunday. Western
Kentucky has yet to play this sea
son.
The Gamecocks will look for
consistent batting from Jennings,
catcher Ashley Smith and short
stop Amber Curtis, who lead the
team in total bases with 18,16 and
14 respectively. McKenna Hughes
leads USC in strikeouts and hopes
to carry her quality pitching over
to this tournament where the
Gamecocks will face powerful of
fenses. Smith and Jennings are
again first and second in runs-bat
ted-in with nine and seven, and
also are tied for team lead in dou
bles, both with three. USC hopes
its excellent offense and defense
rise to the occasion this weekend
and knocks off some of the na
tion’s best teams, leaving the
Gamecocks with respect and na
tional recognition.
USC takes on Oklahoma at
noon on Friday and the Southern
Miss game is at 2 p.m. on Friday,
.capping off their first double
header. On Saturday, Carolina
will take on Illinois at 10 p.m. and
FSU at 2 p.m. The Gamecocks’ last
game in the tournament will be
against WKU on Sunday at noon.
_
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu
_____
Odom
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
Many student representatives
attending the show made their
thoughts clear on the position of
the student body in supporting the
basketball team.
“We want to try to create an as
intimidating atmosphere as pos
sible here, but we want to do that
by cheering for our team, not de
grading the opponent,” said senior
Sean Bishop, president of the
Student Gamecock Club,
r The attendance at the Colonial
Center on Wednesday night was
17,792, about 150 shy of the record
for attendance of a basketball
game in South Carolina, a record
that was set on Jan. 24 of this
year when the Gamecocks played
the LSU Tigers. Prior to
Wednesday’s game, USC’s atten
dance for conference games was
the second highest in the SEC,
only trailing Kentucky’s Rupp
Arena.
“It’s amazing, the transforma
tion in the Colonial Center as of
last night versus a year ago. I
thought (the blackout) was great,’’
Odom said. “Just because we lost I
hope that’s not the last time we see
that, but at the same time I want
to encourage our students to find
other creative ways of showing
their support and their unity, and
I want our team to respond to
those as well.”
So far, the Gamecocks have re
sponded well to the new and im
proved atmosphere the fans and
especially the students have cre
ated. The team is 7-1 in games in
side the Colonial Center in which
the students have not been on
break.
The team has three home
games remaining in the Colonial
Center this season. The first of
these games is Saturday against
SEC east rival Vanderbilt, a Feb.
28 matchup with Georgia and a
much-anticipated rematch with
Kentucky on March 3.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu
MEN’S BASKETBALL CHALLENGE
THE CHALLENGE: Every week, Wes Jonathan Adam Shawn Z’Anne Nllquel
The Gamecock’s readers and Wolfe Hlllyard Bream Rourk Covell Jacobs
staff test their sports knowledge Sports Asst.. Sports Editor Design Wire Reader of
with game predictions editor editor in chief director editor the week
_(21-19) (20-20) (21-19) (24-16) (18-22)(21-19)
Nicholls St. at S.E. Louisiana SE-La. Nicholls St. SE-La. SE-La. SE-La._SE-La.
VMI at Coastal Carolina Coastal VMI Coastal VMI _ VMICoastal
Florida Int’l at Arkansas-LR UALR UALR UALR FIU_ FIUUALR_
6 Miss. State at Arkansas Miss. State Miss. State Miss. State Miss. State Miss. State Miss. State
^ Auburn at Ole Miss _ Ole Miss Ole Miss ■ Ole Miss Auburn_Ole Miss Auburn
LSU at 22 Florida^ Florida Florida LSU_Florida Florida LSU
8 Kentucky at Georgia Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky_Kentucky
Tennessee at Alabama^ Alabama Alabama Alabama Tennessee Tennessee Alabama
Clemson at Florida State Florida St. Florida St. Florida St. Florida St. Florida St. Florida St.
Vanderbilt at 25 USC USC USC USC USC USC USC
58-55 75-60 65-60 63-57 78-71 78-70
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS: Design Director Shawn Rourk continued to pull away from the pack last week,
posting an astonishing 8-2 mark, which was matched by Assistant Sports Editor Jonathan Hillyard. Hillyard’s
good week madje up for the week before, putting him at a solid .500. Sports Editor Wes Wolfe made up
ground for the second-straight week on Editor in Chief Adam Beam, tying Beam and the Reader of the Week
for second place.
WANT TO BE READER OF THE WEEK? E-mail selections for next week’s games to gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu.
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PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMECOCK
Infielder Bryan Triplett in action last season for USC. The Gamecocks will begin the 2004
season at home on Friday against Charleston Southern at Sarge Frye Field.
High hopes for baseball team
against Charleston Southern
BY TERENCE WASHINGTON
THE CAMECOCK
The USC baseball team starts
up its season this weekend with
three games against Charleston
Southern.
The Gamecocks expect to be
successful this season after be
ing picked to win the SEC
Eastern Division in the presea
son SEC coaches’ poll. Last year
the team won its fourth SEC East
title‘in four years. Winning has
become almost routine for the
Gamecocks, playing in the
College World Series in Omaha,
Nebraska for the past two sea
sons. USC head coach Ray
Tanner is guardedly optimistic
about returning to Omaha.
“Are we good enough?”
Tanner asked. “I think we are if
we stay healthy, but once again,
you have to play some good base
ball down the stretch and get hot
at the right time.”
Charleston Southern was
picked to finish fourth in the Big
.■ .'..
South Conference in a preseason
coaches’ poll.
The Buccaneers have sever
al solid weapons such as the
2003 Big South Player of the
Year, junior pitcher R. J.
Swindle. Swindle had a 10-5
record last season with a 2.29
earned-ru’n average and a Big
South-leading 140 strikeouts, a
Charleston Southern single-sea
son record.
Also playing for the Bucs is ju
nior outfielder Jordan Haar, who
tied Charleston Southern’s sin
gle-season home run record last
year with 12. He also had a team
high 69 hits and a .318 batting av
erage. CSU also has a solid con
tributor in Scott Thacker. The se
nior catcher had a .302 batting
average last season.
The Gamecocks have two pre
season All-Americans on their
roster in senior catcher Landon
Powell and junior infielder
Kevin Melillo.
Powell started every game for
the Gamecocks last year and
notched a .994 fielding percent
age to go with lO-home runs, 61
RBI and a .339 batting average.
He is returning for his senior
season after being drafted by the
Chicago Cubs in the 2003 draft.
He also dropped 25 pounds this
summer, adding a little more
quickness to his already
formidable game. Kevin Melillo
had 12 homers, 43 RBI and a .317
average last year. Melillo, Powell
and senior infielder Bryan
Triplett will captain the team
this season. Triplett had seven
.home runs, 47 RBI and a .311 av
erage last season.
The Gamecocks had a 45-22
record last season, winning 2-of-3
against Charleston Southern, who
finished with a record of 19-37.
The games will be played to
day, tomorrow and Sunday.
Today’s game starts at 3 p.m. and
Saturday’s and Sunday’s games
both start at 1:30 p.m.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu
. ■—«
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