April 24, 2004
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina softball suffered a game one loss to the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday as Gamecocks fell 3-1. USC, which fell to 24-19 and 11-17 in the SEC, recorded one run on eight hits as Stacey Johnson (15-9) took the loss. Mary Jane Callahan earned the victory as she improved to 10-15 and the Rebels are now 14-34 and 7-18 in the SEC.
For the first time in seven games, Nancy Crane did not score a run, but she did extend her hitting streak to seven games, the longest streak of the season. Crane, Ashley Smith and Amber Curtis all went 2-for-3 while Smith scored the lone run. The Gamecocks had plenty of chances to score as they left runners on base in every inning but the second and left a total of 10 runners on for the game.
The Rebels took a 2-0 lead in the second inning as Rebecca McIntire, who reached on a fielder’s choice, and Andrea Brahs, who singled to get on, both scored on a throwing error by pitcher Johnson.
Ole Miss hitting leader DeDe Justice added the third run in the third inning when she drove a home run deep to centerfield to lead off the inning. It was Justice’s 12th home run of the season.
Smith broke up Callahan’s no-hitter in the fourth inning when she hit a short single towards second base. USC would collect one more hit in the inning, a single by Curtis, but that would be all as the Gamecocks left the two runners stranded and got nothing across.
Crane extended her hitting streak to seven games in the fifth when she singled to short but was also stranded as USC recorded two more groundouts to end the inning and any chances of scoring.
South Carolina prevented the shutout when Smith scored on an RBI-single by Samantha Jennings in the sixth. USC had two more hits in the inning but once again, could not get the base runners across as the Gamecocks stranded their seventh and eighth runners of the game.
The loss to the Rebels marks only the third in the series for the Gamecocks.
