February 15, 2024
PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico - Sage Mardjetko allowed just two hits and an earned run over five innings and the Gamecocks scored six runs in the sixth leading #20 South Carolina to a 9-1 six inning run rule win over #13 Utah in a Top 20 battle to begin day two of session 2 at the Puerto Vallarta Challenge.
Mardjetko (2-0) walked one and struck out five as the Gamecocks improved to 6-0 on the season. Utah drops to 4-2.
Kianna Jones got the Gamecocks on the board with a solo homer to left in the bottom of the first.
South Carolina added an insurance run in the third on an RBI single by Aniyah Black.
Aliya Belarde got the Utes on the board in the fourth with a solo homer to right, the first Utah hit of the game.
Brooke Blankenship’s sacrifice fly in the fifth gave South Carolina a 3-1 lead.
Karley Shelton’s pinch hit two-run homer in the sixth got the rally started. Blankenship had an RBI single before Marissa Gonzalez’s two-run double ended the six run inning and the game.Jones, Black and Riley Blampied each had two hits for South Carolina in the win while Belarde had two of the three hits for Utah.