COLUMBIA, S.C. – Jax State softball suffered a couple of losses on Saturday at the Carolina Classic, falling to UNC-Greensboro and host South Carolina.
 
The Gamecocks (0-4) came up just short in a seventh-inning rally to fall to UNCG, 5-4, before dropping a close 4-2 game to the other Gamecocks.
 
The day began taking on the reigning Southern Conference champs in UNCG. Junior Kat Carter started in the circle and went four innings allowing seven hits and ultimately four runs by the time her outing was officially closed. Senior Lindsey Richardson had a strong day Saturday, which started with an RBI double in the first inning against UNCG to score Kenzie Nicholson.
 
Carter made the 1-0 advantage stick until a 2-out single through the left side scored a pair to send the Spartans back in front, 2-1. Nicholson quickly responded in the following frame with a double to score Emma Elrod and even the score once again. Elrod, a freshman from Newnan, Ga., had a solid day at the plate between both Saturday games going 2-for-4 with a pair of walks and coming around to score three times.
 
A couple of Spartan homeruns in the home half of the fifth, one off Carter and another once Amber Reed entered in relief, staked UNCG to a 5-2 lead. The Gamecocks tried to rally in the seventh with singles by Elrod and Nicholson to bring the tying run to the plate. Morgan Nowakowski doubled home Elrod and Reed helped bring home Nicholson on a sac-fly. Still, the final run was left on base when another fly to right became the third out.
 
In the final game of the day, No. 23 South Carolina jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first two innings. The Gamecocks from Jacksonville shipped into the deficit with a run in the third and another in the fourth on Richardson's first homerun of the year, but nothing more from that point.
 
The weekend finale is on deck for Sunday morning at 10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT with Jax State getting another chance against UNCG.