Columbia, S.C. – Cheyanna Ohlrich provided the early punch, belting a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning to lead Upstate to a 7-0 shutout of Charleston Southern Saturday afternoon in the Palmetto State Showdown at South Carolina.

Ohlrich's (North Bend, Ore.) grand slam was the first of her Upstate career and the first homer for the senior in the young 2011 season. Her dinger helped Upstate put up five runs on the board to vault out to the lead as the Spartans went on for the 7-0 victory.

Upstate improved to 2-0 on the season and will face Winthrop and South Carolina Sunday in the final two games of the tournament. The Spartans will take on the Eagles at 3:00 p.m. and the Gamecocks at 5:00 p.m. at Beckham Field. Charleston Southern fell to 0-2 with the loss.

"It was great to see Chey have a good day at the plate," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "We need to get more consistent in the bottom half of the lineup.  Morgan is a warrior and pitched well again today. It was good to put back-to-back games like this together to start the season."

Katie Zauner (Canby, Ore.), who provided some power in Friday's 8-0 win over Coastal Carolina, got things started with an RBI double that drove in Kim Brasil (Mississauga, Ontario). After Lauren Quevedo (Wellington, Fla.) was walked intentionally to load the bases, Ohlrich took the pitch over the wall to give the Spartans a 5-0 lead.

After three scoreless innings, Upstate got back on the board with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. The Spartans put runners on second and third before Ohlrich notched another RBI on a ground out to the shortstop. Freshman Ashley Butler (Laurens, S.C.) drove in the second run to put the Spartans ahead by a 7-0 margin.

While Ohlrich was the star on the day offensively, senior hurler Morgan Childers (Kings Mountain, N.C.) led the Spartans from the circle. She tossed another gem in recording her second-straight shutout to open the season. She also collected 14 strikeouts on the day, the same total she finished on Friday in tossing a six-inning no-hitter.

Childers pitched out of a jam in the top of the first inning. Charleston Southern loaded the bases on a walk and back-to-back singles with one out, but Childers struck out the next two batters to end the threat, leading to Upstate's offensive explosion in the bottom of the inning. She would allow just one hit the remainder of the game to improve to 2-0 on the year. Charleston Southern's Kimberly Hobbs fell to 0-2 on the season.

With 28 strikeouts on the year, Childers now has 991 in her career, just nine shy of reaching 1,000 in her career.

Ohlrich finished the day with two hits, five RBIs and one run to lead the Upstate cause. Zauner collected a pair of doubles, scored twice and drove in a run as well.

Upstate is off to a strong start on the season. The Spartans have scored 15 runs, belted four home runs, and got strong pitching out of Childers to the tune of two shutouts and 28 strikeouts, while allowing just three hits in two games.