Seattle, Wash. – Lauren Quevedo connected on a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to lift the USC Upstate softball team to a 2-1 victory over Oregon State Friday afternoon in the first game of the Husky Classic at Washington. It marked the first ever victory for any Upstate team over a school from the Pac 10.
Upstate remained undefeated with the victory over Oregon State, improving to 25-0 on the season. The Spartans will play fifth-ranked and undefeated Washington Friday night at 6:00 p.m. Pacific (9:00 p.m. Eastern). Oregon State fell to 7-8 on the year.
Upstate starter Morgan Childers (Kings Mountain, N.C.) battled back from giving up a run in the first inning as Oregon State plated its only run in the game when Paige Hall doubled to drive in Lea Cavestany.
Childers battled, though, and pitched out of jams in each of the second and fourth innings. In the second, Oregon State put runners on second and third with two outs, but got Cavestany to foul out to end the threat. In the fourth, the Beavers loaded the bases with one out, but Childers struck out Cavestany and got an inning-ending fly out to left.
Upstate had a tough time catching up to the speed of Oregon State starter Marina Demore early on. However, Janna Lewis (Huntersville, N.C.) got Upstate's first hit with a single through the left side in the fifth. Upstate put runners on first and second in the inning before Oregon State got out of the jam.
Upstate continued to work Demore and caught up to her in the seventh. Cheyanna Ohlrich (North Bend, Ore.) smacked a line drive to right center that tipped off the glove of the Oregon State right fielder. She advanced to second on the play. Quevedo (Wellington, Fla.) then came up and belted a pitch high and far over the left field wall to give Upstate a 2-1 lead.
Childers was strong in the bottom half of the inning. She struck out Audrey Roderfeld to start the inning, then induced a fly out from Cavestany and a pop out from Ashley Sanchez to end the game. Childers went the distance, striking out seven and improving to 18-0 on the year. Demore fell to 5-4 after going the distance and allowing one earned run with 11 strikeouts.
