Robyn Herron pitched a three-hit shutout and run-scoring hits by Hannah Gammill and Raigan Kramer gave the No. 14 Arkansas softball team a 3-0 victory over No. 25 South Carolina in a series rubber match Sunday in Columbia, S.C.
The Razorbacks (30-11, 9-6 SEC) have won three SEC series in a row, all coming against ranked opponents. Arkansas has won 14 of its last 15 conference road series dating back to 2020.
Herron, a sophomore left-hander from Tampa, Fla., shut down the Gamecocks with 62 of her 89 pitches thrown for strikes while striking out 6 batters. Over the series, Herron pitched 12 1/3 scoreless innings and earned both victories for Arkansas.
"She had a phenomenal weekend," Arkansas Coach Courtney Deifel said. "She just kind of kept them at bay the whole weekend and trusted her stuff. It was a big outing and we needed that from her today."
A solo home run by Gammill in the second inning and a two-run triple by Kramer in the sixth was all the scoring the Razorbacks needed.
South Carolina (29-15, 5-10), which entered the series last in the SEC with a .241 batting average, was blanked for the eighth time. The Gamecocks lost for the fifth time in seven games.
Herron was in a pitchers' duel through five innings with South Carolina starter Alana Vawter before the Gamecocks opted to replace her with reliever Sage Mardjetko.
Mardjetko ran into trouble after Cylie Halvorson singled and Gammill was hit by a pitch. Kramer delivered the game's most timely hit with two-run triple down the right-field line that gave Arkansas its first comfortable lead.
"Runs were hard to come by in this series," Deifel said, "and we knew they would be with how both teams pitch. It was a big moment for Raigan."
The Razorbacks were ahead 1-0 for most of the game after Gammill's leadoff home run in the second inning, a no-doubt blast past the wall in left-center field. It was the 11th home run for the senior third baseman from Beebe, second most on the team behind Bri Ellis (13).
Arkansas had an opportunity to do further damage in the inning, but Vawter got out of a bases-loaded jam. Over her 5 innings pitched, Vawter gave up 3 hits, 1 walk and 1 earned run, and struck out 2 batters.
After a hit batsman in the first inning, Herron retired 12 consecutive batters before a single by Bre Warren spoiled a no-hit bid in the fifth.
"She was really trusting her spin," Deifel said of Herron. "She was really working her curve with her rise and her change. But her change was really consistent and she was able to keep them off-balance.
"They couldn't catch up to her spin, so she was just doing her. They hit a lot of fly balls and our defense did a great job."
South Carolina had runners on first and second with two outs that inning before Herron won an eight-pitch battle against Vawter, who was inserted as a pinch hitter. Herron induced a fly out to center field that ended the inning.
Vawter, an All-America transfer from Stanford, was replaced by Mardjetko to begin the sixth. Kramer's triple against Mardjetko came with two outs and two strikes.
Kramer entered the at-bat 0 of 8 against the Gamecocks before the two-RBI triple. Her two triples are tied for a team high.
"This game is a funny game," Deifel said. "She was not having exactly the weekend that she wanted, but that at-bat was about as big as they come. To deliver in that way, it was huge. To be ready and have the right mindset for it, it's just huge."
After a leadoff single and one-out hit batsman in the seventh, Herron induced a fly out and a game-ending foul out. Thirteen of the outs recorded by Herron were fly outs.
Arkansas is scheduled to host No. 13 Alabama in a three-game series beginning Friday at 6 p.m. on SEC Network+.