University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
UMBC
Childers Fans 15 In Win Over UMBC
2/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 20, 2009
Spartanburg, S.C. - Morgan Childers struck out 15 batters and Courtney Feldon provided an offensive spark with a solo home run as Upstate claimed a 4-2 victory over the University of Maryland Baltimore County Friday afternoon in the first game of the Campus Suites Spartan Classic at Cyrill Stadium.
Upstate improved to 3-0 with the win as Childers also picked up her third win of the year. UMBC dropped to 0-1 after losing its season opener Friday. The tournament continues tomorrow with UMBC taking on College of Charleston at 11:00 a.m., Upstate hosting Presbyterian at 1:00 p.m., Presbyterian facing College of Charleston at 3:00 p.m. and College of Charleston battling UMBC at 5:00 p.m.
"I thought Morgan did an outstanding job today," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "She made one mistake, but other than that, she was great. Jenna (Torbert) also did well today. She was very good behind the plate and offensively, put the ball in play to put us in position to win. We were fortunate with a couple of plays, but overall, I thought we played very well. This was a good start to the tournament."
Upstate and UMBC engaged in a pitcher's duel through three innings until Upstate cracked the scoreboard in the fourth inning. Jenna Torbert grounded to third with two outs and runners on second and third. However, the UMBC third baseman allowed the ball to glance off her glove and both runs scored to give Upstate a 2-0 lead.
Upstate added to the lead in the fifth when Feldon went opposite field and cranked a solo home run over the wall in left. With Upstate leading 3-0, UMBC battled back into the game in the sixth when Malorie Weller delivered a two-run home run to right, cutting the lead to 3-2.
Upstate got some insurance in the bottom of the inning when Torbert lifted a fly ball to left center. The UMBC center fielder tracked the ball to the warning track but stumbled when trying to field the ball and Torbert wound up with and RBI-double as pinch runner Janna Lewis scored from second as Upstate took a 4-2 lead.
Childers went the distance, allowing two runs on two hits with 15 strikeouts, three off her single-game school record 18 in last year's season opener against Tusculum. UMBC starter Stephanie Weigman allowed four runs, two of which were earned, and struck out five in the complete game loss. The Retrievers committed two errors on the day.
