March 9, 2010

Box Score - Game One
Box Score - Game Two

Spartanburg, S.C. - Morgan Childers picked up a pair of wins on the day, one in a complete game start and the other in relief, and USC Upstate broke out the bats in the second game as the Spartans swept Western Carolina, 2-1 and 9-3, in non-conference softball action Tuesday at Cyrill Stadium.

Upstate improved to 8-3 on the year and has won five straight. The Spartans are back in action Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 when Appalachian State comes to Cyrill Stadium. Western Carolina fell to 3-12 on the year.

Childers was again dominant in the circle. She tossed a complete game in the first game, finishing with 15 strikeouts while allowing just one run on two hits. She has reached double figure strikeout totals in all seven of her starts on the year. She entered the second game to start the fourth inning and Upstate clinging to a 4-3 lead. She shut down Western Carolina the rest of the game, allowing just one hit and striking out eight to earn her second victory of the day. She stands 7-1 on the year and topped 100 strikeouts on the season with 105 in 52 innings this season.

"I was really proud of Morgan today," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "She was outstanding in game one and bailed us out of a tough situation in the second. I was glad to see our hitters get it together in the second game. It's a tough situation after not playing for nearly two weeks and I thought we did a pretty good job of coming out and doing what we needed to do to win."

After two scoreless innings, Upstate broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the third in game one. Kim Brasil led off the inning with a double and moved to third on Crislyn Chewning's sacrifice bunt. Ericka Harris doubled to score Brasil. Western Carolina came back with a run in the fourth on Chelsea Schaffer's solo home run. Upstate won the game with a run in the fifth. Harris walked and pinch runner Becca Williams entered to replace her on base. Cheyanna Ohlrich followed with a single to put runners on first and second. Lauren Quevedo knocked a single through the middle to score Williams with the eventual game-winning run.

The one-run lead would be all that Childers would need. She allowed just one hit in the sixth and went three-up and three-down in the seventh to get the win. She struck out the side in the second and fifth innings and recorded two strikeouts in five of the seven innings. Monica Hall led the Spartans at the plate, finishing 2-for-3.

In the second game, Upstate jumped on top early only to see Western Carolina fight back into the game. The Spartans opened a 3-0 lead in the first when Chewning singled to drive in Brasil and Katie Zauner connected on a two-run home run, her first dinger of the year. Western Carolina got a run back in the second when Shemekia Scotten scored as Danielle Reese reached on an error.

Upstate went back on top by three with a run in the bottom of the second when Brasil and Chewning connected on back-to-back doubles. However, the Catamounts answered with two runs in the top of the third on Haley Pace's two-run home run to cut the Upstate lead to 4-3. That's when Hawkins turned the game over to Childers.

Childers entered to start the fourth and tossed a gem the rest of the way. She allowed just one hit and struck out eight to pick up the win. She struck out the side in the fourth and kept Western Carolina off balance the rest of the way.

With Childers in control, the Upstate bats came alive. The Spartans scored a run in the fourth and two each in the fifth and sixth to take a 9-3 lead. Hall scored when Brasil reached on a throwing error in the fourth and Quevedo and Hall belted back-to-back doubles to drive in a pair of runs to give the Spartans a 7-3 lead. In the sixth, Chewning and Brasil scored when Zauner reached on an error.

Brasil had a solid day at the plate, finishing with three hits, all of which were doubles, and four runs. She increased her team-best hitting streak to seven games. Chewning had three hits with two runs and two RBI in the second game, while Hall collected a pair of hits for the second straight game.

Western Carolina's Katie King (0-6) took the loss in game one, while Chere Monday (1-3) took the loss in game two.