Diaz delivers for Arkansas to clinch series against S. Carolina

FAYETTEVILLE — Senior Ashley Diaz took the first pitch to calm her nerves, then proceeded to send the second pitch over the leftfield wall for a grand slam Saturday afternoon, leading the No. 17 Arkansas softball team to a 7-4 comeback win over No. 16 South Carolina.

Down 4-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Razorbacks (21-6, 3-2 SEC) plated seven runs in the frame, finally giving the Bogle Park crowd of 2,858 a reason to erupt.

“I just knew that I had to be big for my team,” Diaz said. “The feeling was just unexplainable. The rush was great, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates getting on base. We did it as a team.”

Junior Sydney Parr got things started in the sixth, beating out an infield single. Sophomore Hannah McEwen then ripped a one-out single to left. After Dixie Raley replaced South Carolina starter Kelsey Oh on the mound, she proceeded to walk Taylor Greene to load the bases.

Senior Katie Warrick blooped a single to left, scoring Parr with the Hogs’ first run. Sophomore Kayla Green followed with a walk to force in McEwen and cut the deficit to 4-2.

“Our girls just kept battling to get on, and Parr was such a spark to start that inning,” Arkansas coach Courtney Deifel said. “From that point, our team grabbed the momentum and never relinquished it. That was just such a team effort.”

The Gamecocks (20-7, 0-5) re-entered Oh to pitch to Diaz, who cleared the bases with her second home run of the year. Junior Aly Manzo followed that up with a solo homer off the left-field foul pole to extend the lead to three runs.

Arkansas starter Mary Haff worked out of an early jam in the first inning. After walking the first two batters, she hit Jada Johns to load the bases with no outs. The Gamecocks then scored a run on Cayla Drotar’s groundout but were unable to do any further damage as Haff got two of the next three to pop out.

Autumn Storms pitched the final 41/3 innings, allowing only two hits to move her record to 10-1 on the season.

SHORT HOPS: McEwen extended her hitting streak to 11 games and has reached base in 23 straight games. … Arkansas’ leading hitter Danielle Gibson remains sidelined with an injured thumb and could miss two to four weeks. … Saturday’s was the largest attendance at Bogle Park this season … Arkansas hit back-to-back homers for the second time this season.

ON DECK: Arkansas will take on South Carolina in game three of the series at 1 p.m. today.

ON THE WEB: arkansas razorbacks.com