Upstate Battles Lipscomb In Music City
4/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 18, 2008
Complete Upstate at Lipscomb Game Notes in PDF Format 
Spartanburg, S.C. - USC Upstate begins its eight-game season-ending road swing Saturday in Nashville, Tenn., taking on Lipscomb at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern). The A-Sun doubleheader will pit the two hottest teams in the A-Sun against each other as Lipscomb enters the day with an 11-game winning streak, while Upstate owns a 10-game winning streak. The Spartans enter the doubleheader in third place in the A-Sun standings with a 13-5 record in the league and stand 29-12 overall. Lipscomb enters the doubleheader in second place in the league standings with a 15-5 record and owns a 26-21 overall mark. 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 Stetson & Florida Gulf Coast
Lauren Quevedo had a major impact on the outcome of the games against Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast, hammering two grand slams and adding a two-run homer to lead Upstate to a sweep of both the Hatters and Eagles last week in Spartanburg.
Against Stetson, Quevedo hit a grand slam in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie in game one, lifting Upstate to a 6-2 win. In game two of the doubleheader, Courtney Feldon drove in the winning runs with a two-run single in the third inning as the Spartans went on for the 5-1 win.
Against Florida Gulf Coast, Feldon hit a pair of home runs, leading to Quevedo's second grand slam in as many days. Upstate opened the doubleheader by taking a 6-4 victory over the Eagles with Feldon connecting on a solo homer. In the second game, Feldon had already hit a solo home run to give Upstate a 1-0 lead in the fourth before FGCU came back to take a 2-1 lead. In the fifth with the score tied at 2-2, Feldon was walked to load the bases and Quevedo delivered with the grand slam to put the Spartans on top for good as Upstate took the 7-3 win.
About The Competition
Lipscomb enters Saturday's doubleheader with a 26-21 overall record and a 15-5 mark in the A-Sun, good for second place in the league standings. The Bisons are on a roll, winning their last 11 games, including six straight in the A-Sun. The last time Lipscomb lost was on Apr. 5 against East Tennessee State.
Lipscomb owns a .248 team batting average with two players hitting over .300 for the season. Kellie Sirus leads the team in hitting with a .382 batting average. Abby Keese is second on the team with a .345 batting average while leading the team with 14 home runs, 35 RBIs and 31 runs scored. The Bisons own a 3.47 team ERA and use a three-pitcher rotation. Alaina Jacobson and Kim Jacobson each have 24 appearances, while Christen Campbell has made 21 appearances. Alaina Jacobson leads the team with a 2.90 ERA and 10 wins, while Kim Jacobson tops the club with 66 strikeouts.
On A Streak
With its doubleheader sweeps of Furman, Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast last week, Upstate has increased its winning streak to a season-best 10 games entering the Lipscomb series. During the streak, Upstate's bats have come alive. The team is hitting .313 during the streak with 11 home runs, 13 doubles and 51 RBIs. The Spartans pitching staff has also done well, tallying a 1.62 ERA with Morgan Childers and Brittany Rice recording six and four wins, respectively.
Spartans 57th In Latest RPI
With six wins last week, Upstate moved up 37 spots to No. 57 in the latest RPI ranking released by the NCAA (see complete A-Sun list at left). Upstate is the second-highest A-Sun school in the RPI listing, trailing Florida Gulf Coast at No. 43. There are six A-Sun schools ranked in the top 100. Upstate is also ahead of several BCS conference schools in the top 100 including Louisville, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Oregon State, Penn State, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State, Kentucky and Iowa State.
Slater Tops In The Books
Shay Slater has eight more games to add to her list of accomplishments at Upstate. She currently sits at the top of the career record list with 223 games played, 221 games started, 128 stolen bases, 189 runs scored and 11 sacrifice flies. She also ranks among the all-time greats in 10 other statistical categories and should break the all-time at bats record by season's end.
The senior from Anderson, S.C., has had a storied collegiate career, earning All-America, All-Region and All-Conference honors a year ago and hitting .370 for her career.
Quevedo Named Upstate's First A-Sun Player Of The Week
Lauren Quevedo became Upstate's first A-Sun Player of the Week honoree in the history of the program and the second softball player to win a weekly award from the conference (see note below) after turning in a dominant performance at the plate last week. She hit four home runs, including two grand slams, and accounted for 12 RBIs to lead Upstate to six wins. She hit a solo walk-off home run to lift Upstate to a 7-6 win over Furman to start the week. She hit a grand slam to break a tie and give Upstate a 6-2 win over Stetson in the first game of the doubleheader sweep last Friday. She then hit a two-run homer in the second game to lead Upstate to a 5-1 win over the Hatters. She ended the week with a grand slam in the second game of the sweep of Florida Gulf Coast. In all, she drove in the winning runs on three of the six wins for the Spartans, all on homers.
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.
Feldon's Performance Overshadowed
While fellow freshman Lauren Quevedo hit three game-changing home runs last week and earned A-Sun Player of the Week honors, Courtney Feldon also had a strong week at the plate for the Spartans. She hit .500 (7-for-14) and tallied three home runs, seven RBIs and five runs. She hit a solo home run to give Upstate a 2-1 lead in the first game of the Stetson series, forcing the Hatters to walk her later in the game to load the bases and set up Lauren Quevedo's game-winning grand slam. In the second game, she drove in the winning runs in the 5-1 win over the Hatters. In Saturday's doubleheader with Florida Gulf Coast, the Denver, N.C., native hit a solo home run in each game, again leading to being walked to load the bases in the first game to set up Quevedo's decisive grand slam in the series finale.
Miscellaneously 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 and Kim Brasil are second to Gibbs with 12 multi-hit games. Brasil tops the Spartans with seven multi-RBI games, driving in two runs six times and three on one occasion. Courtney Feldon and Lauren Quevedo are second with five multi-RBI games. Gibbs and Feldon are tied atop the list for the longest hitting streak of the year, both turning in nine-game hitting streaks this season. Feldon currently owns the longest active hitting streak at six games.
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 pitching with a 2.02 ERA, fourth in hitting with a .285 batting average and sixth with a .961 fielding percentage.
Individually, Courtney Feldon has made her first appearance in the top 10, hitting eighth in the conference with a .367 batting average. Heidi Gibbs ranks ninth with a .366 batting average. Shay Slater ranks fifth with 22 stolen bases. In the circle, Morgan Childers tops the league with 22 wins and ranks second in the league with a 1.26 ERA, 227 strikeouts, nine shutouts and a .170 opponent's batting average, third with 21 complete games, fifth with 33 appearances and two saves and sixth with 178.1 innings pitched
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 118-35 record in seven-plus seasons at the stadium, a .771 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 sixth with nine shutouts and seventh with 227 strikeouts and two saves. In 33 appearances, she has tallied 227 strikeouts and has totaled 10 or more strikeouts in 10 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. With eight games remaining in the season, she is nine strikeouts shy of matching the single-season school record of 236 held by Maricela Panuco and set during the 2000 season, and two wins from matching the single-season school record of 24 held by Kristy Middagh and set during the 2002 campaign.
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.
Bayer, Berrong In The Hall
Former USC Upstate standout softball players Beth Bayer and Stacey Berrong are the only two members of the softball program to be inducted into the Upstate Athletics Hall of Fame. Berrong was the program's first inductee and was elected to the Hall in 2005. She played for Upstate from 1996-99. She currently ranks among the program's all-time greats in 15 career statistical categories, including topping the list with 46 home runs, 215 RBIs, 425 total bases and 87 walks. Bayer was the program's second and last inductee into the Hall, being elected in 2006. She was a member of the program for just two seasons, but put up impressive numbers. She currently ranks among the all-time career leaders in nine statistical categories. She tops the all-time list with a .799 slugging percentage, ranks second with 28 home runs and third with 79 stolen bases.
Head coach Chris Hawkins was also inducted into the Upstate Athletics Hall of Fame, entering the shrine in 2003. However, with over 460 wins in his career, he was not enshrined because of his accomplishments as a softball coach. Instead, he was elected to the Hall for his exploits as a member of the baseball program from 1986-87. Hawkins was a pitcher for the team after the program was reestablished and moved from a club sport to varsity level. Hawkins became the first Upstate baseball player to be elected the Athletics Hall of Fame at Upstate.
