Feb. 20, 2010

Box Score - Upstate vs. Eastern Kentucky
Box Score - Upstate vs. Liberty
Box Score - UMBC vs. Eastern Kentucky
Box Score - UMBC vs. Liberty

Spartanburg, S.C. - USC Upstate pitcher Morgan Childers struck out 15 batters to lead Upstate to a 9-1 victory over Eastern Kentucky Saturday afternoon in the Campus Suites Spartan Classic at Cyrill Stadium. The Spartans dropped their second game of the day, a 12-2 decision to Liberty.

The schedule is set for Sunday's championship and consolation games. Three teams, Upstate, Liberty and UMBC, finished the round robin portion of the schedule with 2-1 records. Tiebreaker procedures put Upstate and UMBC in the title game which will be played at 11:00 am Sunday. Eastern Kentucky and Liberty will play in the consolation contest at 1:00 pm.

Childers, a junior from Kings Mountain, N.C., struck out the side in the first inning. Although she gave up a solo home run in the top of the second, she was in total control and struck out the side in the inning as well. She also recorded four strikeouts in the fifth inning, with one batter reaching first on a passed ball on a strikeout in the inning. She walked just one batter and allowed two total hits to improve to 3-0 on the year.

"Morgan is one of the most dominant pitchers I every ever seen in person," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "We seem to have a lot of confidence with her out there. I was happy to see our hitting come around. I am glad that we were able to advance to the championship game of our own tournament. UMBC is playing well right now, so it will be a battle."

Down 1-0 entering the fourth inning, Upstate rallied to take the lead in the bottom of the frame. Lauren Quevedo drove in a run and later scored on a wild pitch to give Upstate a 2-1 lead. The Spartans ended the game with seven runs in the sixth inning. Cheyanna Ohlrich started things off with an RBI single, and Janna Lewis and Kim Brasil drew bases loaded walks. Ericka Harris picked up and RBI single, Crislyn Chewning drove in a run on a sacrifice fly, Janna Lewis scored on a wild pitch and Keri Sarratt scored on an error.

Katie Zauner led Upstate at the plate, finishing 3-for-3 with two runs. Quevedo picked up a pair of hits and two runs. EKU's Stacye Toups took the loss, allowing nine runs to fall to 0-1.

In Upstate's second game of the day, Liberty jumped on top early in the game, scoring in each of the first three innings. The Flames scored a run in the first inning on a solo home run from Danielle Howard. They broke the game open in the second. Amber DePasquale singled to drive in a run and Howard followed with a grand slam to give the Flames a 6-0 lead. Liberty added to the lead when DePasquale hit a three-run homer in the third as the Flames took a 9-0 lead.

Upstate got on the board with a run in the third inning and added a run in the fourth to cut the deficit to 9-2. However, Liberty scored three runs in the top of the fifth to take a 12-2 lead. The game ended when Upstate could not score in the bottom of the frame.

Howard had a monster day for Liberty, finishing with two home runs, five RBI and two runs. DePasquale had a pair of hits and drove in five runs. Tiffani Smith went the distance for Liberty in the circle, allowing two runs on five Upstate hits. Amber Hamilton (0-1) took the loss for the Spartans.

"Our pitching was not consistent of effective," said Hawkins. "We hit the ball hard and played good defense. Unfortunately, it wasn't in the pitching department. I am sure we will rebound."

UMBC 5, Eastern Kentucky 3
UMBC scored five runs in the first two innings to open a 5-0 lead and held off a scrappy Eastern Kentucky team to take a 5-3 victory Saturday afternoon. The Retrievers scored two runs in the first inning, one on Amber Fefel's sacrifice fly and the other on Julia Culotta's RBI single. They added to their lead with three runs in the second on Fefel's three-run homer.

EKU scrapped its way back into the game with a run in the third on Raquel Howe's sacrifice fly. The Colonels cut the deficit to two, 5-3, with a pair of runs in the fifth. Larkyn Wood drove in a run and Ashely Dollins singled to drive in a run. Fefel, who relieved starter Heather Brown, shut down the Colonels the rest of the way to preserve the win. She earned the save in the game, tossing 2 1/3 innings while allowing no hits. Brown earned the victory. Fefel finished the game with two hits and four RBI to lead UMBC at the plate. Mea Flores took the loss for EKU.

UMBC 5, Liberty 0
UMBC methodically built its lead and starter Stephanie Weigman pitched a gem despite getting hit in the leg on a comebacker as the Retrievers took a 5-0 victory over Liberty. UMBC opened the scoring in the first inning on an RBI from Julia Culotta. The Retrievers added to the lead on another ground out RBI from Culotta. They broke the game open with a pair of runs in the fifth. Mallorie Weller doubled in a run and Amanda Fefel drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to give UMBC a 4-0 lead. The Retrievers took a 5-0 advantage when Weller scored on a passed ball in the seventh.

The run support was all that Weigman would need. She allowed just four hits and struck out seven to earn the win. Katie Warrington took the loss for Liberty. Weller finished 4-for-4 to lead UMBC at the plate, while Culotta collected a pair of RBI.

The Campus Suites Spartan Classic All-Tournament team and Tournament Most Valuable Player will be announced at the conclusion of the games Sunday.