Upstate Plays Host To Jacksonville On Senior Day
4/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 16, 2009
Notes | ASun.TV | Gametracker - Game 1 | Gametracker - Game 2
Spartanburg, S.C. - USC Upstate takes to the diamond Friday for the final home games of the year when Jacksonville visits Cyrill Stadium on Senior Day. The Spartans will honor three seniors (Heidi Gibbs, Melissa Lockey and Amber Patterson) in a ceremony prior to the start of the first game. Upstate enters the doubleheader with a 24-13 overall record and a 7-7 mark in the A-Sun. Jacksonville enters the series with a 21-27 overall record and a 5-11 mark in the conference. Upstate currently stands sixth in the conference, while Jacksonville is ninth. Upstate owns a 2-0 lead in the series between the two schools after sweeping a doubleheader at Jacksonville last season.
Fans not in attendance at the doubleheader can watch the action live on ASun.TV by visiting the service's Web site at www.ASun.TV and clicking on the USC Upstate tab. Live statistical updates are available via Gametracker on the official Upstate Athletics Web site, www.upstatespartans.com.
Looking Back At South Carolina
Upstate gave South Carolina all it could handle Wednesday evening in Columbia, opening a 2-1 lead midway through the game before the Gamecocks rallied for a 3-2 victory. After South Carolina took a 1-0 lead, Upstate catcher Kim Brasil tied the game with a solo home run in the third. The Spartans opened a 2-1 lead in the fourth on Ana Mitchell's RBI single to center, but the Spartans arguably should have added a third run on the play. Pinch runner Melissa Lockey attempted to score from second, but South Carolina's catcher blocked the plate on Lockey's slide, then caught the throw to the plate and tagged Lockey out. The Gamecocks tied the game when P.J. Fulmer's long fly ball to left was ruled to have crossed over the foul pole for a home run as South Carolina tied the game at 2-2. The Gamecocks took a 3-2 lead with a run in the fifth and Upstate could get nothing going in the sixth or seventh innings as South Carolina held on for the win. The game was the first between Upstate and South Carolina in the history of the two programs. Brasil and Heidi Gibbs each finished with two hits in the game to lead the Spartans.
About The Competition
Jacksonville enters Friday's doubleheader at Upstate with a 21-27 overall record and a 5-11 mark in the A-Sun. The Dolphins are coming off back-to-back splits with Mercer and Kennesaw State prior to losing three in a row in conference play.
Jacksonville hits .243 as a team, owns a 3.07 ERA and has a .952 fielding percentage on the year. Katie Kelly tops the Dolphins in hitting with a .320 batting average as the only player on the team to hit over .300. She leads the Dolphins with 10 doubles and 26 runs. Ashley Mora tops the club with 18 RBIs, while Alexis Novak leads the way with three home runs. Sarah Sigrest and Ashley Iveson lead the Dolphins in the circle. Sigrest has a team-best 2.24 ERA with 11 wins and 125 strikeouts in 165 2/3 innings of work. Iveson has a 3.72 ERA with eight wins and 86 strikeouts in 105 1/3 innings.
Spartans Set To Honor Three Seniors
Friday is sure to be an emotional day on many fronts as Upstate is set to honor its three seniors - Heidi Gibbs, Melissa Lockey and Amber Patterson - prior to the first game against Jacksonville on Senior Day. All three have been important members of the program and have contributed in many ways. Gibbs is Upstate's all-time leader with 57 doubles in her brilliant four-year career. She ranks among the all-time greats in 14 career statistical categories, ranking in the top-3 in an amazing eight of the 14 categories. She is among the top-5 in 12 of the 14. She is a three-time all-conference selection, earning two all-conference nods in the Peach Belt Conference when Upstate was a member of NCAA DII and one last year in the Spartans' first season playing in the A-Sun and on the DI level. She was named the Peach Belt Freshman of the Year in 2006 and was a DII All-American in 2007. Lockey has been an integral part of the team serving as the Spartans' primary pinch runner throughout her four years. Her role is a primary one in Coach Hawkins' run-oriented system. She ranks 10th all-time with an 89.1 stolen base percentage, having swiped 41 bases in her career. Patterson has spent three seasons in a Spartan uniform after transferring to the school from Presbyterian. She has been a mainstay in the lineup as a starter in left field or at third base. Her versatility has been important in allowing Coach Hawkins to put the best players in the lineup even if that has meant moving Patterson around the field. She was an all-conference and all-region selection as a sophomore.
Gibbs Queen of The Doubles
With a double in the third inning of game one of the doubleheader at Charleston Southern on April 7, senior right fielder Heidi Gibbs tied the school's all-time doubles record. She now has 57 doubles in her career and is tied for the record with Krista Altom.
Childers Racks Up Two A-Sun Weekly Honors In `09
Morgan Childers has earned A-Sun Pitcher of the Week honors two times this season. She earned her first weekly honor of the week on Feb. 23 after tossing a no-hitter against Presbyterian and going 3-0 with two shutouts in the Campus Suites Spartan Classic. She earned her second honor on Apr. 6 after going 4-0 with wins in both games of the doubleheaders at Western Carolina and at home against A-Sun foe North Florida. Childers has three career A-Sun Pitcher of the Week honors. She was the A-Sun Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year last season, the first time in conference history that a player earned both honors in the same season. She was also a first team all-conference and second team all-region selection.
Gibbs Moving Up All-Time Records List
Senior Heidi Gibbs has had quite an accomplished career at Upstate. A look at the record book shows just what kind of a career she has had. She ranks among the all-time greats in 14 career statistical categories. She is tied for the top spot on the doubles list with 57. She is approaching the top spot in a few more categories. She ranks third all-time with 268 hits, 13 shy if the all-time mark of 281 held by Krista Altom. She is just one hit away from second place on the all-time list. With eight games left on the schedule, it is not out of the realm of possibilities that she could reach the all-time mark. She also ranks in the top-3 all-time in games started, at bats, runs, walks, stolen bases and hit-by-pitch.
Spartans Score Consistently
Upstate has outscored its opponents 160-104 on the year and have done so by spreading out the damage throughout several innings. The Spartans have scored 20 or more runs in each of the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings on the year. The fourth inning is the most productive inning with Upstate scoring 33 runs on the year and holding a plus-22 run differential in the frame.
Number Crunching
Junior Crislyn Chewning has had a knack of producing in streaks this season. She currently tops the team with 11 multi-hit and seven multi-RBI games. She tops the team with two four-RBI games this season and has the second-longest hitting streak on the season at six games. Kim Brasil has also produced consistently this season. She is tied with Chewning for the top spot with 11 multi-hit games despite missing 10 games with a minor knee injury. She also owns a six-game hitting streak on the year. Heidi Gibbs and Keri Sarratt have the top hitting streaks on the year at seven games.
Last Year's JAX Sweep Jump Started Upstate's Drive To Title
When Upstate traveled to Jacksonville, and got lost on the way to the university, the Spartans were in the midst of troubling trend. Upstate would routinely win the first game of their doubleheaders but lose the second game for a variety of reasons. Upstate sat at 5-5 in the conference standings prior to the doubleheader against the Dolphins. However, when the Spartans swept Jacksonville, it kicked off a run of games that propelled Upstate into a share of the regular season A-Sun championship. The sweep of the Dolphins was the first of five sweeps in the last six conference doubleheaders of the year as Upstate won 11 of its final 12 A-Sun games to earn a share of the title. Following the Jacksonville series, Upstate swept North Florida the next day and earned sweeps of Stetson, Florida Gulf Coast and Mercer to end the season. Only a split at Lipscomb prevented the Spartans from claiming the A-Sun regular season championship outright.
Home, Sweet Home
Upstate loves playing at the friendly confines of Cyrill Stadium and the Spartans' performance at home this season has been outstanding. Upstate is currently 16-3 at home this season. 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 128-38 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.
Upstate 81st In NCAA RPI
In the latest RPI ranking released by the NCAA, Upstate is ranked 81st out of 284 Division I schools. The Spartans are the fifth-highest ranked A-Sun team in the ranking. Florida Gulf Coast is the highest ranked conference team at No. 24 and is followed by Lipscomb (51), Mercer (58), Campbell (73) and Upstate in the top-5. Jacksonville, Upstate's opponent Friday, is ranked 135th. The Spartans finished last year ranked 76th and the sixth-highest team in the A-Sun. However, Upstate was the third-highest ranked conference team at the completion of regular season play and slipped three positions following the A-Sun and NCAA tournaments.
Night Time Is The Right Time
Upstate is a strong 5-2 in games that start after 5:00 p.m. this season. The Spartans had won five straight night games with wins against Furman and Campbell at home and at Charlotte, Stetson and Western Carolina prior to Wednesday's 3-2 loss at South Carolina.
