April 11, 2009

Box Score - Game 1
Box Score - Game 2

Spartanburg, S.C. - On a windy day at Cyrill Stadium, USC Upstate used two six-run innings, one in each game, and got timely hitting up and down the lineup and strong pitching from Morgan Childers to take an important A-Sun softball sweep over Belmont Saturday afternoon. The Spartans won game one, 10-2, and took a 6-2 win in game two.

Upstate improved to 24-10 on the year and, more importantly, 7-5 in the A-Sun with the sweep. The Spartans play host to Lipscomb tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 in a key battle against upper-division teams in the conference. Belmont fell to 9-19 overall and 1-7 in the league with the pair of losses and travels to Johnson City, Tenn., to take on East Tennessee State Sunday.

Upstate belted a pair of six-run innings in the doubleheader that spelled the difference in the games. The Spartans plated six runs in the third inning of game one to turn a 0-0 game into a 6-0 lead. In game two, Upstate used the six-run fourth inning to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 6-2 lead.

"I thought Morgan pitched well today with just a couple of mistakes, and we got the hits when we needed them," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "With the wind blowing as hard as it was, you just never know what can happen. Weather conditions can be an equalizer. But, we dealt with the conditions and found a way to score runs when we had people on base and in scoring position. We split with Belmont last year, so it was nice to get two this year."

In game one, Childers did not allow a hit until the third inning and didn't allow a base runner to advance past second until the fourth. With the game tied at 0-0 in the third, Upstate belted out six runs on four hits and one Bruin error to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Upstate put runners on second and third with no outs to start the inning and Ana Mitchell drove in the first run of the game to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead. Kim Brasil followed with a two-RBI single and advanced to second when Belmont's first baseman could not handle the throw coming in from center field as Upstate opened a 3-0 lead.

Brasil advanced to third on a wild pitch and later scored on a double steal after Heidi Gibbs walked. Gibbs later scored on Amber Patterson's RBI single and Keri Sarratt drove in a run with a sacrifice foul out to left to give Upstate a 6-0 lead.

Belmont got a run back in the fourth when Brooke Babington doubled and scored on Sara Bentley's squeeze bunt. Upstate reliever Amber Hamilton entered the game to start the fifth in relief of Childers. Belmont got a second run back in the fifth on Babington's RBI single to cut the Upstate lead to 6-2.

However, Upstate ended the game in the bottom of the fifth with four runs to earn the 10-2 win. Patterson led off the inning with a walk and scored one out later on a throwing error by the Belmont third baseman. Monica Hall scored on a wild pitch and Mitchell drove in a run to give the Spartans a 9-2 lead. Brasil ended the game when she scored on a wild pitch.

Childers earned the victory after tossing four innings and allowing one run on three hits with six strikeouts. Belmont starter Hannah Brenzie took the loss and fell to 0-3 on the year. Brasil led the Spartans at the plate with two hits, two RBIs and two runs. Mitchell also had two RBIs in the game.

After giving up a wind-aided two-run home run in the first inning of game two, Childers settled down and turned in a dominant performance to earn the 6-2 victory. With a runner on in the top of the first, Babington lifted a towering fly ball to right center. The ball got up in the wind and fell just over the fence to give Belmont a 2-0 lead. However, Childers settled down and retired the next 16 batters in a row to give the Spartan bats enough time to heat up.

Trailing 2-0 to start the bottom of the fourth, Upstate plated six runs to open a 6-2 lead. It would be all that Upstate and Childers would need. Patterson struck out to start the inning, but advanced to first on a wild pitch on the strikeout. Sarratt reached on an error by the Belmont third baseman and the flood gates were set to open. Jenna Torbert doubled to drive in two runs. Ana Mitchell followed with an RBI single as the Spartans had runners on second and third. Crislyn Chewning followed with a two-run double and Gibbs later scored on a sacrifice liner to center.

Childers allowed two hits with two outs in the sixth inning, but struck out the next batter to end the inning. In the seventh, she sandwiched a walk between the second and third outs, but got Bentley to line out to third to end the game as Upstate took the sweep.

Childers went the distance in game two, allowing two runs on just four hits. She finished the game with nine strikeouts and 15 for the day in 11 innings of work. She now has an A-Sun best 223 strikeouts on the year, 35 shy of tying her own single-season school record of 258 set last year as a freshman. She improved to 19-6 on the year with the win. Belmont starter Sammi Parks took the loss and fell to 3-10 on the year.

Chewning, Torbert and Mitchell finished with two hits each in game two. Babington was solid all day for Belmont. She finished the day with four hits and three RBIs.