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Spartanburg Herald-Journal Coverage

Spartanburg, S.C. – Lauren Quevedo hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning to break a 5-5 tie and lift third-seeded USC Upstate to a 7-5 victory over sixth-seeded Kennesaw State in the first round of the A-Sun Softball Championship Wednesday evening at Cyrill Stadium.

Upstate advances to the second round to face No. 2 seed Lipscomb at 3:00 p.m. at Cyrill Stadium. Kennesaw State will face Campbell at 10:00 a.m. in the first elimination game of the tournament.

With the victory, Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins reached 600 career wins, while Upstate broke its single-season school record for wins in the Division I era with 42. The Spartans improved to 42-11 on the year, while Kennesaw State fell to 28-26.

Upstate jumped on top early in the game, scoring two runs in the first inning and three in the second to open a 5-0 lead. In the first, Katie Zauner (Canby, Ore.) drove in a run on an RBI single and Ericka Harris (Piedmont, S.C.) plated a run with a sacrifice fly. In the second, Ashley Butler (Laurens, S.C.) scored from third on a wild pitch, Kim Brasil (Mississauga, Ontario) drove in a run on a sacrifice fly, and Janna Lewis (Huntersville, N.C.) drove in a run on a ground out.

However, Kennesaw State used a five-run fourth inning to tie the game at 5-5.

Quevedo then put Upstate on top for good with her two-run blast in the fifth inning. Kennesaw State stranded two runners on base in the sixth inning and Upstate starter Morgan Childers got a double play and a strikeout in the seventh to preserve the win.

Childers improved to 29-7 on the year with the victory. She allowed five runs, but none were earned. Amanda Henderson took the loss for the Owls and fell to 5-9.

Jessica Cross and Lyndsay McCurry each had two hits for Kennesaw State, while Lindsay Kelly had two hits for Upstate.