Blazers Visit #22/#19 South Carolina at Garnet & Black Invitational

Friday, February 27

Columbia, S.C.

9 A.M.

UAB

Marist

Blazers Visit #22/#19 South Carolina at Garnet & Black Invitational

2/26/2026 10:05:00 AM | Softball

Game Notes Tournament Central

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB Softball heads to Columbia, S.C., for a five-game set at the Garnet & Black Invitational. The weekend includes two games against both Marist and Queens and one matchup against the hosts, #22/#19 South Carolina. UAB looks to take advantage of a pair of struggling but dangerous teams in Marist and Queens and make some noise against its third ranked SEC opponent in an eight-day span in South Carolina.

Notes to Know

The Blazers are coming off an 8-0 run-rule loss at #7/#5 Alabama on Tuesday.
UAB Softball went 2-1 at the Green and Gold Classic, defeating good Southern Illinois and
Missouri State teams, losing to #1 Tennessee, 6-1.
The Blazers scored in the 7th inning against Tennessee, scoring the first earned run against
Karlyn Pickens all season long.
Ashlyn Shirah did not reach base safely at Alabama, snapping her 25-game on-base streak.
Transfer Abbi Perkins walked four times against West Georgia, tying the program record
and becoming the fourth player to do so. Tuesday at Alabama was the first time she did not
reach base as a Blazer.
Perkins singled and walked against Tennessee, the first UAB player to reach base twice
against Tennessee.
Freshman Charlee Bennett leads the team in batting average and slugging percentage.
Bennett hit her first career homer and triple against SIU in her second-career three-hit game.
Hannah Dorsett leads the Blazers with 17 hits this season, including three doubles.
Dorsett tallied 11 assists against South Alabama, the most in UAB history, and tied for the
most by any NCAA DI player since 2020. Dorsett currently ranks 15th in Division I in assists.

Scouting the Field
Marist

The Red Foxes are off to a disappointing start to the 2026 season, already with more regular-season losses than in 2025.
Marist went 22-2-1 en route to a MAAC Championship in 2025, representing the conference at the NCAA tournament.
Marist is 5-8 entering the weekend with notable losses to Central Michigan, 12-4, and SEMO, 7-6.
Marist does not have a key win through the season to date, defeating College of Charleston, George Mason, Charleston Southern, East Texas A&M, and Jackson State.
Haley Ahr leads the team with a .404 batting average and a team-best six doubles.
Isabella Manor and Samantha Rogers each have a pair of home runs. Rogers leads Marist with 13 RBI.
Annabelle Gelser and Rogers each have 12 walks this season.
Marist has a staff ERA of 4.37 through 13 games. Stella Blanchard has thrown two complete games, leading Marist in innings pitched. She has a team-best 2.02 ERA.
The Red Foxes are 50th in the country in stolen bases per game with 1.69 per game and 22 overall.
Marist is 50th in DI with 56 walks.

Queens

The Royals have had four games canceled this season, allowing Queens to have played seven games through three weeks.
Queens is 2-5 entering the weekend with wins against Tennessee Tech and Lehigh. The Royals have lost to Bowling Green, Gardner-Webb, Tennessee Tech, North Carolina State, and UNC Greensboro.
Sage Farmer is 11th nationally with a .560 batting average and 37th with a .593 on-base percentage.
Lindsay Henson leads the team with 10 RBI and four homers, slugging .955.
Outside of Farmer, Queens is hitting .242 as a team.
Despite their record, the Royals have been able to hit the long ball. Queens ranks 70th in home runs per game, averaging one homer per game.
Queens has a 5.60 team ERA. Addison Cluck has thrown the majority of innings for Queens with two complete games. She has a 4.64 ERA.

#22/#19 South Carolina

The Gamecocks are 11-5 coming off a pair of midweek wins over Charlotte and Winthrop.
South Carolina had a rough weekend at the Mary Nutter with three top-25 losses in Cathedral City. The Gamecocks fell to Nebraska, 9-1, Oregon, 2-1, and UCLA, 5-4. They defeated Washington, 8-1, and Saint Mary's, 4-2.
The Gamecocks rank in the top-100 in most major statistical categories. Notably, South Carolina is 24th in on-base percentage (.449) thanks to their sixth-best hit-by-pitches (19) and 13th-best walks (71). South Carolina ranks 33rd in runs scored (116) and 52nd in ERA (3.00).
Four Gamecocks are hitting above .350 with Quincee Lilio (.452) and Tori Ensley (.408) both north of .400.
Arianna Rodi leads the team with five homers. Karley Shelton and Ensley follow behind with three each.
Shelton leads the team with 20 RBI.
Jori Heard ranks 44th in the country with a 1.22 ERA.

Series History

UAB only has one all-time matchup against the field, coming 24 years ago against South Carolina.

Marist

Friday morning will mark the first-ever meeting between the Blazers and Red Foxes.
UAB is 1-1 all-time against current MAAC teams.

Queens

Friday's game will be the first-ever meeting between UAB and Queens.
UAB is 25-21 all-time against current ASUN teams.

#22/#19 South Carolina

South Carolina leads the all-time series 1-0 against the Blazers.
The Gamecocks won the first matchup 5-0 on Feb. 16, 2002.
The 8,778 days between games is the third-largest gap between games against an opponent in UAB history (Indiana State - 9,128 days, UIC - 9,045 days).

Around the American

East Carolina upset #20/#23 Duke in Durham, N.C., on Tuesday, 5-4. The Pirates pushed across a seventh-inning run to defeat the Blue Devils.
The American lost its other four midweek contests, all to power-conference opponents.
This weekend, Wichita State (Missouri), Memphis (#17/#17 LSU), Charlotte (#8/#7 Arkansas), and South Florida (#7/#5 Alabama) each play at SEC tournaments. North Texas travels to Lubbock to take on #2/#2 Texas Tech. Tulsa welcomes #4/#9 Nebraska to town.
Florida Atlantic and Charlotte each received votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball and NFCA/USA Today polls.
Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, and South Florida were all ranked in the top 11 in the D1Softball mid-major rankings. They all cracked the top-16 of the new Softball America mid-major rankings.

An Even Further Look Ahead

The Blazers will welcome #19/#12 Mississippi State to Mary Bowers Field on March 4 at 5 p.m., as the last tune-up before American Conference play begins next weekend. UAB begins conference play against North Texas, hosting the Mean Green at 5:30 p.m., 1 p.m., and 12 p.m., from Friday through Sunday, respectively.