South Carolina softball head coach Beverly Smith has faith in her sophomore. During the top of the fourth inning of South Carolina’s elimination game against Utah on Sunday, Smith explained her decision to start Jori Heard on the mound.
“Jori has been a great opener for us and she’s been attacking particularly when you see a strike zone that can be challenging,” Smith said. “I just remind her to stay attack, stay attack, and just keep pitching her game.”
Through the first three innings of the game, Heard has only allowed three hits and zero runs. She walked two batters. Heard entered the massive showdown with a 6-2 record this season and 81.1 innings under her belt.
In her sophomore campaign, Jori Heard boasts a stunning 1.98 ERA and has tallied 67 strikeouts while only throwing two wild pitches. From the plate, Smith’s teammates built her cushion in the first inning when they hopped out to an early 4-0 lead, capitalized by Aniyah Black’s grand slam.
Smith made sure to give the South Carolina senior praise for her pivotal home run.
“Denver Bryant did a great job getting us started there and of course, Aniyah Black’s was a big hit,” Smith said. “I always say that about Aniyah. She’s big when runners are on, and that was certainly a big hit for us.”
South Carolina previously defeated Utah 2-1 on Friday in the Durham Regional. The winner of their rematch will advance to face off against Duke at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Alabama HC Patrick Murphy records 1,300th career win
On Friday, Alabama softball head coach Patrick Murphy secured his 1,300th career win with a 1-0 victory over USC Upstate in the Crimson Tide’s first game in the 2024 NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional. Instead of raving about his accomplishment after the game, Murphy praised his players.
“To have two freshmen [pitchers] in their first postseason starts put together performances like that was remarkable to see,” Murphy said. “Kudos to [Upstate pitcher Sierra Maness] and Jocelyn Briski. She has been doing a great job for us this year.
“In the postseason, it’s survive and advance. It doesn’t matter if it’s 1-0, 8-0 or 10-9 — you only need to score one more run than the other team. USC Upstate made a lot of plays as did our defense. Briski was awesome and Bailey Dowling came up with the key hit.”
Alabama’s pitching was excellent in the win on Friday, only giving up two hits and a walk to USC Upstate while delivering three strikeouts. Briski pitched for 6.1 innings before Kayla Beaver came in to close the game.
Alabama’s stellar defense was nothing new. Friday marked the Crimson Tide’s 15th shutout victory of the season and its third when tied after 5.0 innings. Jenna Johnson and Bailey Dowling led the way on offense, each recording two hits, their ninth and seventh multi-hit performances of the season, respectively.
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