HARDEEVILLE -- The USCB softball team picked up its first-ever Peach Belt Conference series win Saturday afternoon, sweeping a doubleheader against Augusta with 2-1 and 8-7 victories at the Richard Gray Sports Complex.
USC Beaufort capitalized on timely hitting and strong pitching to take the opener before completing a thrilling comeback in game two, highlighted by Chloe Turner's three-run, go-ahead home run in the sixth inning.
GAME ONE
After two scoreless innings, USCB broke through in the bottom of the third. Taelor Chang delivered a clutch RBI double to give the Sand Sharks a 1-0 lead, providing early run support for starter Cierra Kinlaw (8-8), who continued to keep Augusta's bats in check.
The Sand Sharks added an insurance run in the fifth when Jaden Goodwin led off with a double to the left-center field gap and came around to score two batters later on M.J. Stradinger's sacrifice fly to left, extending the lead to 2-0.
Kinlaw carried a shutout into the seventh inning before Alex Wesley launched a pinch-hit solo home run to put Augusta on the board. The Jaguars didn't stop there, putting two more runners on base before Madison Murphy entered in relief.
Murphy worked through the jam, loading the bases but ultimately inducing a game-ending groundout to second from Bailee Roberts, securing the 2-1 win for USCB.
Kinlaw pitched 6.2 innings, allowing eight hits, one earned run, and striking out four. Chang went 1-for-3 with an RBI double, while Makenzie Fore, Saria Simmons, and Tamiyah Whitlock each collected three hits to power the Sand Sharks' offense.
GAME TWO
Augusta struck early, scoring single runs in the first two innings before breaking out for three runs in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead. Jaguars' starter Ansley Gibson kept the Sand Sharks off the board until the bottom of the fourth, when USCB's offense erupted.
The Sand Sharks sent nine batters to the plate in the fourth, beginning with a Jaden Goodwin leadoff double. With two outs, Turner reached on a fielding error, allowing Goodwin to score. That proved to be the spark USCB needed. Daryn Miller followed with a two-run bloop single to center, and Simmons roped a double into the gap to tie the game at 5-5, igniting the Sand Sharks' dugout.
Augusta responded quickly, reclaiming the lead with two runs in the fifth. However, Turner delivered the game's defining moment in the bottom half of the inning, crushing a three-run home run to left off Gibson, giving the Sand Sharks their first lead of the game at 8-7.
Murphy (3-5) took over from there, shutting down Augusta in the seventh by retiring the Jaguars in order to secure the series win for USCB.
The series will conclude tomorrow with a 12 p.m. first pitch.
