Upstate Set To Play Final Home Games This Weekend
4/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 10, 2008
Complete Upstate vs. Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast Game Notes in PDF Format 
Spartanburg, S.C. - USC Upstate will play its final home games of the season this weekend, hosting a pair of A-Sun doubleheaders when Stetson comes to town Friday and Florida Gulf Coast travels to Spartanburg Saturday. Upstate enters the weekend with a 25-12 overall record and a 9-5 mark in the A-Sun, good for second place in the league. Stetson is 31-16 overall and in sixth place in the A-Sun with a 5-4 record. Florida Gulf Coast is 43-11 overall and leads the A-Sun with an 11-1 record. Prior to the start of the FGCU doubleheader on Saturday, Upstate will have a Senior Day ceremony honoring Vanesa Flores, Tiffany Pitcher and Shay Slater. The games can be seen live on ASun.TV. Please visit the ASun.TV website at www.asun.tv/uscupstate for ordering information. Fans can also get live statistical updates using Gametracker via the official Upstate Athletics website at www.upstatespartans.com.
Recapping Furman
Lauren Quevedo hit a solo home run to right center in the bottom of the seventh inning to deliver a 7-6 win in game two and the sweep of Furman Tuesday evening at Cyrill Stadium. The win followed a 2-0 shutout of the Paladins in the first game of the doubleheader and extended Upstate's win streak to six games.
In game one, Upstate's Morgan Childers scattered three hits and struck out 14 to win her 20th game of the season. She reached the 200-strikeout plateau for the season and tallied her ninth shutout this year. In the second game, Upstate took a 3-0 lead before falling behind, 6-4, after the fifth inning. The Spartans rallied with a pair of runs in the sixth inning on an RBI double by Kim Brasil and Quevedo's seventh-inning blast won it for Upstate.
About The Competition
Stetson enters the weekend with a 31-16 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the A-Sun. The Hatters swept Kennesaw State the last time out after being swept by Lipscomb in Nashville. Stetson owns a .236 team batting average with two players hitting over .300 on the year. Andrea Migliori leads the team with a .352 batting average, 50 RBIs, 27 runs, 14 home runs and 12 doubles. Amy Joyce is second on the team with a .302 batting average. The Hatters own a 1.47 team ERA on the year. Amanda Lindsey and Erica Demers lead the way. Lindsey tops the club with 17 wins and a 1.06 ERA with 193 strikeouts. Demers has 14 wins with a 1.99 ERA and 112 strikeouts.
Florida Gulf Coast enters the weekend atop the Atlantic Sun Conference standings with an 11-1 mark in the league and a 43-11 overall record. The Eagles rattled off 10 straight conference wins before splitting with Mercer the last time out. FGCU owns a .313 team batting average with six players hitting over .300. Carmen Paez is the go-to player on offense. She has a .425 batting average with a team-high 22 home runs, 65 RBIs and 66 runs scored. Cheyenne Jenks and Jessica Paez hit over .300 and have hit 13 and 11 homers, respectively. The Eagles own a 2.28 team ERA. Rachael Edinger leads the team with 19 wins and a 1.87 ERA with 155 strikeouts. Morgan Campen has a 2.12 ERA with 14 wins and 104 strikeouts, while Dana Frantz has won 10 games with a 3.36 ERA.
 Vanesa Flores has hit 25 home runs in her two seasons as a Spartan.  |
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After the final out of Saturday's second game against Florida Gulf Coast, three Spartan seniors will have played their final game at Cyrill Stadium. Vanesa Flores, Tiffany Pitcher and Shay Slater will still have four more doubleheaders to play before ending their career, but the FGCU games will be their last at home. The three will be honored prior to the start of the doubleheader Saturday. Game time is at 2:00 p.m. and the ceremony will start approximately 10 minutes prior to game time.
Flores has been a member of the program for two seasons. She hit 19 home runs and was named the co-Player of the Year in the Peach Belt Conference last season. She also garnered All-America, All-Region and All-Conference honors. She owns a career .348 batting average with 25 home runs and 87 RBIs as a member of the program, and has been a part of 72 wins the last two seasons, including a school record 47 last year.
Pitcher and Slater have been starters since their freshman season in 2005. The two have helped lead Upstate to 159 wins and three straight appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
 Tiffany Pitcher tops the all-time list with 34 sacrifice bunts. |
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Slater already owns three career and three single-season records at Upstate, and is on pace to break two more by season's end. She owns the all-time runs record with 187, and has played in (219) and started (218) more games than any other player in the history of the program. She needs just one more stolen base to tie the all-time mark of 127. She ranks among the all-time leaders in 15 career statistical categories. She earned All-America, All-Region and All-Conference honors last season after leading the Peach Belt Conference with a .454 batting average and a league and school record 70 runs. She owns a career .374 batting average with 118 RBIs.
On A Streak
After splitting seven straight doubleheaders, including the first five A-Sun dates, and being swept by Charlotte, Upstate has won its last six games to improve to 25-12 on the year and 9-5 in the A-Sun. The Spartans swept Jacksonville last Friday and turned around to take two from North Florida last Saturday, sweeping back-to-back A-Sun doubleheaders and Division I doubleheaders for the first time this season. Upstate stepped out of conference Tuesday against Furman and took two from the Paladins, giving upstate six straight wins. The Spartans' longest winning streak of the year is seven games.
Slater Breaks Records, Set To Break More
One look at the Upstate career record book (see page 4 sidebar) will let you know just how good of a career senior Shay Slater has had in a Spartan uniform. Slater currently stands above all others with 187 runs scored, 219 games played and 218 games started. She is on pace to break a few more by season's end. She currently ranks second all-time in at bats (685), hits (256) and stolen bases (126). She ranks among the all-time leaders in 15 career statistical categories. The next record likely to fall is the stolen base record. She needs just one to tie and two to break the all-time mark of 127 held by former All-American Krista Altom.
Slater already owns the single-season school record with 89 hits (2007), 70 runs (2007) and 44 stolen bases (2006). The 70 runs scored last year also established a league record in the Peach Belt Conference.
Spartans Picking Up The Pace In Conference Play
While several of the freshmen have played well during A-Sun games, many veterans are showing the leadership needed to be successful. Tiffany Pitcher, who has raised her overall batting average by 230 points since March 27, leads all returning players with a .355 batting average in A-Sun play. She has also walked five times and laid down five sacrifice bunts. Shay Slater ranks third on the team with a .355 batting average against A-Sun competition with nine runs and six stolen bases. Heidi Gibbs is hitting .313 with a team-high 10 runs, while Ana Mitchell is hitting .300 against A-Sun foes.
With the veterans leading, several freshmen have posted strong numbers in their first season on the college level. Lauren Quevedo leads the team with a .425 batting average during A-Sun games. Kim Brasil is hitting .317 and has eight RBIs, while Courtney Feldon is hitting .300. Finally, Morgan Childers owns a 1.04 ERA with seven wins, five shutouts, 81 strikeouts and a .176 opponents batting average in 60.2 innings of work against A-Sun foes.
Quevedo Walks Off
This season, Upstate has won games with its last at bat on a couple of occasions and hit home runs during games which would eventually serve as the game-winning hit, but Lauren Quevedo's home run against Furman Tuesday night marked a first for the season. It was the first time a Spartan hit a walk-off home run this year. It also marked just the second homer hit by the Spartans at Cyrill Stadium this season.
Childers Earns Upstate's First A-Sun Weekly Honor
Standout freshman pitcher Morgan Childers didn't take long to make a name for herself at Upstate, striking out a school record 18 batters in the season opener against Tusculum on Feb. 13. She can add another milestone to her list of accomplishments after she was named the Atlantic Sun Conference's Pitcher of the Week on March 17. She became the first Upstate softball player to earn a weekly conference award from the A-Sun in this, the first year of membership in NCAA Division I and the A-Sun. She earned the award after posting a 3-1 record with a 0.76 ERA, 36 strikeouts and two shutouts the week of Mar. 10-16.
Micellaneously Speaking
Heidi Gibbs tops the Spartans with 14 multi-hit games this season. She has notched two hits on 13 occasions and three hits once. Shay Slater is second to Gibbs with 12 multi-hit games, while Kim Brasil has turned in 11. Brasil tops the Spartans with seven multi-RBI games, driving in two runs six times and three on one occasion. Vanesa Flores is second with four multi-RBI games. Gibbs and Courtney Feldon are tied atop the list for the longest hitting streak of the year, both turning in nine-game hitting streaks this season. Slater currently owns the longest active hitting streak at seven games, while Gibbs is second with five.
Spartans In The A-Sun
In its first season as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, Upstate is turning in some strong numbers and ranks among the league leaders in several categories. The Spartans currently rank third in the league in hitting with a .288 batting average, third in pitching with a 1.99 ERA and sixth with a .959 fielding percentage.
Individually, Heidi Gibbs ranks fourth in the conference with a .380 batting average and 10th with a .453 on base percentage. Shay Slater ranks fourth with 20 stolen bases. In the circle, Morgan Childers tops the league with 20 wins and a .163 opponent's batting average and ranks second in the league with a 1.11 ERA, 211 strikeouts and nine shutouts, fourth with 19 complete games and 163.1 innings pitched, fifth with 30 appearances and two saves, and eighth with 21 games started.
Pitcher Queen Of The Sacrifice
Senior catcher/first baseman Tiffany Pitcher has accomplished a lot in her four years at Upstate. She currently ranks first all-time with a .991 fielding percentage. With a sacrifice on March 16, she surpassed Erin Driggers for first on the all-time sacrifice bunts list at Upstate. She now has 34 in her four-year career.
Spartans At Cyrill Stadium
Upstate has called Cyrill Stadium home since Feb. 13, 2002, when the Spartans opened the season, and the Cyrill Stadium era, with a doubleheader sweep of Southern Wesleyan. Upstate has been strong at home, turning in a 112-35 record in seven-plus seasons at the stadium, a .762 winning percentage at the facility. Upstate's top season in the stadium was in 2006 when the Spartans were 22-4 at home.
Childers Moves Into Top 10
Though not even a full season into her college career, freshman Morgan Childers has already moved into the Top 10 in three career statistical categories. She currently ranks seventh with nine shutouts and two saves, and eighth with 211 strikeouts. In 30 appearances, she has tallied 211 strikeouts and has totaled 10 or more strikeouts in nine games this season, including a single-game school record 18 against Tusculum in her collegiate debut on Feb. 13, 14 against Furman on Apr. 8 and 13 in the one-hit shutout at Campbell on March 28.
Morgan Childers - Record Breaker
Freshman pitcher Morgan Childers had a tremendous start to her collegiate career when she stepped into the circle on Feb. 13 against Tusculum. The righty struck out 18 batters and tossed a no-hitter in her collegiate debut. The 18 strikeouts broke a school record that stood for nearly 16 years. Debra Rozier had struck out 15 batters in a 2-0 shutout of Austin Peay on March 8, 1992.
Spartans In Tournament Play
Upstate has played in two tournaments this spring, going 5-2 in tourney play. The Spartans went 2-2 at the First Pitch Classic hosted by Charlotte Feb. 23-24. Upstate claimed an 8-2 win over Stony Brook in the tournament opener. The Spartans fell twice to Kent State, losing 8-3 on Feb. 23 and 5-0 on Feb. 24. Upstate then went 11 innings, with Morgan Childers pitching all 11 innings, to take a 4-3 victory over Charlotte. Upstate went 3-0 at the Tar Heel Invitational Mar. 8-9, finishing with wins over Lafayette (6-0), James Madison (7-5) and Princeton (6-2).Is, 425 total bases and 87 walks.
