Spartans Sweep Campbell on Senior Day
4/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Spartanburg, S.C. – On a day filled with emotion, USC Upstate was able to focus and pull off a sweep of Campbell on softball's Senior Day at Cyrill Stadium. The Spartans won by scores of 6-0 and 3-0.
Upstate improved to 39-11 overall and 11-7 in the A-Sun. With the wins, the Spartans secured a spot in the A-Sun Tournament to be held at Cyrill Stadium May 11-14. Campbell fell to 29-24 overall and 11-9 in the league.
"It's always great to see our team play as well as we did on Senior Day," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "This day means a lot to a lot of people. Once again, we played complete games offensively, defensively and the complete bench. I couldn't be happier heading into the end of the season and the conference tournament. These seniors have meant so much to our program and I am thrilled they could have their day and go out with two wins."
Between games of the doubleheader Upstate honored its six seniors who were playing their final regular season games of their careers. The Spartans honored Kim Brasil (Mississauga, Ontario), Morgan Childers (Kings Mountain, N.C.), Cheyanna Ohlrich (North Bend, Ore.), Lauren Quevedo (Weelington, Fla.), Jenna Torbert (Denver, N.C.) and Katie Zauner (Canby Ore.).
Childers was simply dominant in game one. She allowed just one hit and struck out 12 to lead the Spartans to the win and improve to 27-7 on the year. She also got a lot of help from the Spartan offense.
After a scoreless inning, Upstate grabbed the lead with a run in the second on Lindsay Kelley's (Jacksonville Fla.) single to left. Although Childers didn't need more run support, she certainly got it. The Spartans put three runs on the board in the fourth inning. Kelly notched another RBI on a ground out to second. Brasil delivered with an RBI single up the middle. Harris singled to drive in Brasil with the third run of the inning as Upstate took a 4-0 lead.
Upstate made it a 6-0 game in the fifth when Ohlrich doubled and later scored when Ashley Butler (Laurens, S.C.) reached on an error. Brasil later singled to drive in a run.
Childers was strong. She allowed a hit in the fourth inning and walked just one. She now has and school and A-Sun best 111 career victories. She also topped 1,300 career strikeouts during the game. Campbell starter Katie Woodcock tossed 3 2/3 innings. She allowed four runs on eight hits before leaving in the fourth after being hit in the leg on Ericka Harris' (Piedmont, S.C.) comebacker. She took the loss to fall to 11-3 on the year.
Brasil had a strong game at the plate. She finished with three hits and two RBIs to lead the Spartans. Fellow senior Torbert finished with a pair of hits.
Hannah Alexander (Lexington, N.C.) started the second game for Upstate and joined with Campbell starter Olivia Scarborough in a pitcher's duel through four innings. Alexander would eventually come out on top to improve to 12-4 when Upstate scored three runs in the fifth inning to open a 3-0 lead.
After four scoreless innings, Upstate came through in the fifth. Janna Lewis (Huntersville, N.C.) started things off with a single to lead off the inning. Torbert reached on a sacrifice bunt attempt on an error by the third baseman. Ohlrich put down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over and Butler followed with an RBI single. Pinch runner Erin Schattle (Goose Creek, S.C.) also scored on the play after a throwing error. Brasil later followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Spartans a 3-0 lead.
Alexander turned things over to Childers to start the sixth inning. Childers retired the Camels 1-2-3 in the sixth. In the seventh, Sara Forgacs singled to lead off the inning. After a strikeout, Campbell put runners on second and third on a throwing error by Upstate. After a force out at third, the Camels loaded the bases when Taylor McGee reached after being hit by a pitch. However, Childers struck out Christina Melton to end the game. She picked up her third save of the year and increased her career total to a school record 10 saves.
Lewis led Upstate at the plate with two hits. Scarborough went the distance for Campbell. She allowed only one earned run on four hits to fall to 3-3 on the year.
