April 9, 2010

Box Score - Game 1
Box Score - Game 2

Jacksonville, Fla. - Morgan Childers tossed her fourth career no-hitter, and second of the season, broke her own single-season strikeouts record, and now sits alone atop the school's all-time shutouts list to lead Upstate to a 4-0 victory over North Florida in game one, but the Ospreys came back to score two runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 3-2 win in game two and earn a split in the A-Sun doubleheader Friday afternoon at the UNF Softball Complex.

Upstate stands 26-8 overall and 6-4 in the A-Sun with the split. The Spartans stay in Jacksonville to battle the Jacksonville Dolphins Saturday afternoon at 1:00. North Florida is 21-22 overall and 7-5 in the league.

"We played well enough to win both games," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "I give credit to UNF for coming up with clutch hits in the last inning. Morgan was just Morgan. She was great out there today. Sometimes you just have to look at her and say, `wow'."

Childers, a junior from Kings Mountain, N.C., was dominant in the first game. She struck out 10 batters and walked just two in the no-hitter. She allowed just two runners to reach second base in the game, but shutdown any opportunity the Ospreys had of pushing anything across.

Childers' no-hitter was her second of the season. She tossed a no-hitter at North Carolina A&T on March 21. Today's no-no marked her first against A-Sun competition. She also had a no-hitter as a freshman and one last year. She began the day with 273 strikeouts, just four shy of her own single-season school record set a year ago. She finished the day with 15 strikeouts, raising her season total to a school record 288. She now has the three highest single-season strikeout totals in school history with 288 and counting this season, 277 last year and 258 in her freshman season in 2008. She also recorded her 26th career shutout, breaking the tie with Kristy Middagh who tallied 25 in her Hall of Fame career at Upstate.

Upstate scored in the first inning of game one when Katie Zauner doubled to drive in Crislyn Chewning. The Spartans added to the lead with a pair of unearned runs in the third. Chewning drove in a run when she reached on an error and later scored when the UNF catcher threw the ball into center field trying to throw out pinch runner Becca Williams on a steal attempt. They added to the lead with a run in the fourth on Cheyanna Ohlrich's solo home run into a strong wind in center field.

Childers improved to 22-3 with the win. UNF starter Devyn Findley tossed a complete game and took the loss to fall to 16-12 on the year. She allowed four runs, two of which were earned, on three hits in the loss.

Upstate looked like it was on its way to a sweep in a hotly-contested game two. The Spartans held a 2-1 lead with one out in the bottom of the seventh. However, UNF responded with two straight hits to take the win.

Upstate jumped on top with a run in the second inning on Ohlrich's 230-foot home run to left, her second dinger of the day. UNF tied the game with a run in the third on Caroline Torre's RBI single. The inning could have been worse, but Zauner nailed a runner at the plate on Torre's hit as UNF tried to score two runs on the play.

Upstate broke back on top with a run in the fifth when Jenna Torbert singled to right to drive in pinch runner Williams.

Amber Hamilton started the game for Upstate and went three innings and started the fourth. She gave up one run on four hits before being lifted after one batter in the fourth. Childers came in and tossed three strong innings, allowing just one hit and striking out five in her first three innings of work.

Childers gave up a leadoff single to start the seventh. After getting an out when Britanie Block sacrificed the runner to second, Kara Rutenbar and Torre followed with back-to-back singles to drive in runs as the Ospreys took a 3-2 win.

Childers tossed four innings, giving up two runs on four hits while striking out five. She took the loss in the game to fall to 22-4 on the year, finishing with a win and a loss on the day. UNF's Shaina Dent went the distance, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out two.

Ohlrich finished the day with two homers, accounting for each of her hits in the doubleheader. Monica Hall continued her strong play at the plate, finishing game two with two hits to lead the Spartans at the plate.