Upstate Softball Releases 2009 Schedule
7/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
July 1, 2008
2009 Spartan Softball Schedule in PDF Format 
Spartanburg, S.C. - The USC Upstate softball team will open the 2009 season at home against South Carolina State on Feb. 18, will begin defense of its share of the regular season Atlantic Sun Conference championship against Campbell on Mar. 20, and will play at South Carolina on Apr. 15 to highlight the non-conference schedule as head coach Chris Hawkins released the 2009 schedule Tuesday.
Upstate claimed a three-way share of the 2008 regular season A-Sun championship after winning 11 of its final 12 league games to finish with a 16-6 conference mark. The Spartans tied Florida Gulf Coast and Lipscomb for a share of the conference championship. Upstate finished the season with an overall record of 34-15 and a No. 76 RPI ranking out of 282 institutions by the NCAA, playing its first season as a member of NCAA Division I and the A-Sun. Freshman pitcher Morgan Childers was named the A-Sun's Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year, marking the first time in league history that a player earned both awards in the same year. She was a first team all-conference selection and was joined on the team by second team members Heidi Gibbs and Lauren Quevedo. Childers and Quevedo were joined on the all-freshman team by Kim Brasil and Courtney Feldon.
Despite the success of the program in year one in Division I, Upstate will have another tough schedule in 2009 and will have to battle each and every game to be able to match the success achieved a year ago. The softball program is one of two programs at the University chosen to be "fast-tracked" by the University and will serve its final year as an NCAA provisional program in 2009. The Spartans will be eligible for post-season play in 2010. The 2009 season will be important as Hawkins and the Spartans aim to continue to build upon the solid foundation set forth by the 2008 team.
"The A-Sun is a very tough conference and we will have to play at our best to even think about winning another conference championship," said Hawkins. "The league is tough from top to bottom with very little room for error. Our non-conference schedule is equally as challenging and should not only help prepare us for our conference games, but also give us an indication of the where we are at as a program and the things we need to do to improve as we move into our first year of post-season eligibility in 2010. I feel good about the nucleus of players we have returning and the group of new players we have coming in, but I fully expect the season to be a long, tough, hard battle."
Upstate opens the season at home against South Carolina State at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 18. The Spartans will host the Spartan Classic Feb. 20-22 and will play host to College of Charleston, Presbyterian and Maryland-Baltimore County in the four-team tournament. Upstate will also travel to play in tournaments at Ole Miss and Winthrop.
Counting the Spartan Classic, Upstate will play home games against S.C. State, Presbyterian, College of Charleston, Maryland-Baltimore County, Gardner-Webb, UNC Wilmington, Furman, Campbell, North Florida, Belmont, Lipscomb and Jacksonville. The Spartans will hit the road to play Winthrop, East Tennessee State, Charlotte, Florida Gulf Coast, Stetson, Western Carolina, Charleston Southern, South Carolina, Appalachian State, Kennesaw State and Mercer. The tournament opponents in the Ole Miss Blue Gray Classic (Feb. 27-March 1) and the Winthrop Adidas Classic (Mar. 13-15) have yet to be determined.
Upstate returns 12 players from the 2008 championship team, including six position starters and two starting pitchers. The Spartans will call upon 10 newcomers to fill the void left by graduating seniors Shay Slater, Tiffany Pitcher and Vanesa Flores.
In addition to the spring schedule, Upstate will host a fall tournament Sept. 27-28 and will play in a tournament at Winthrop Oct. 3-5.
