Spartans Wrap-Up Fall Season
10/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Spartanburg, S.C. – Building toward its fourth year in the A-Sun and coming off of its most successful season on the Division I level in 2010, the USC Upstate softball team wrapped up its fall season last weekend in the second of two Upstate Spartans Fall Classic tournaments at Cyrill Stadium.
Upstate finished the fall with a perfect 7-0 record. The Spartans gave up just five runs in seven games, recording five shutouts along the way.
"Our pitching was outstanding," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "We will have a very good 1-2 punch this year with Morgan (Childers) and Hannah (Alexander). We had an outstanding defense last year and I am glad that we continued that this fall with only two erros over seven games."
Upstate opened the fall with the first of two tournaments at Upstate on Sept. 25-26. Although the event was rained out on Sunday, the Spartans recorded wins over Lees-McRae (7-0) and Georgia Perimeter (4-3) on Saturday. A mid-week single-game with Spartanburg Methodist, a make-up from the missed game from the previous weekend, resulted in a 14-0 blanking of the Pioneers.
Upstate hosted the second weekend of the Fall Classic and collected four wins. The Spartans claimed a pair of 2-0 wins over North Greenville and Western Carolina on Saturday, Oct. 2. Upstate broke out the bats on the final tournament day of the fall, combining for 24 runs in a 7-2 win over Montreat and a 17-0 victory over USC Sumter.
"I am very happy with the way the team gelled this fall," said Hawkins. "We have set high goals for the spring. We are going to work on becoming more consistent hitters in the off-season."
Upstate has had tremendous success since moving to the Division I ranks in 2007-08. The Spartans won a share of the 2008 regular season championship and posted 29 wins in 2009. The success continued last year with Upstate winning 41 games, earning a spot into the six-team A-Sun Tournament in the program's first year of eligibility and advancing to the championship game before settling for second.
Upstate will open the 2011 campaign on Feb. 11 at the Palmetto State Showdown hosted the South Carolina. The Spartans will open its home season on Feb. 16 in a doubleheader against Gardner-Webb, one of 28 regular season games scheduled for Cyrill Stadium. They will open A-Sun play against Belmont and Lipscomb on March 25-26 at home. Upstate will also travel to play in the Husky Invitational at Washington, taking on the Huskies in two games and Oregon State in another two games. The Spartans have South Carolina on the schedule for a home-and-home series, and will travel to Athens, Ga., to take on Georgia as well in non-conference play. Finally, Upstate will host the 2011 A-Sun Tournament on May 12-14.
