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Spartanburg, S.C. – For a senior class that established the USC Upstate softball program on the Division I level, Thursday at the A-Sun Softball Championship was a heartbreaker. The same goes for the rest of the Spartans as Upstate dropped a 1-0 decision to second-seeded Lipscomb in its first game of the day and lost a 3-2 decision at the hands of fifth-seeded Mercer in an elimination game to end its season.

Upstate finished the year with a Division I school record 42 wins, finishing 42-13. Lipscomb advanced to play No. 1 seed Jacksonville on Friday in the championship game of the winner's bracket. Mercer advanced to play Campbell in an elimination game on Friday.

The Upstate senior class has set the standard on the Division I level for the Spartan softball program. Four seniors – Kim Brasil (Mississauga, Ontario), Morgan Childers (Kings Mountain, N.C.), Lauren Quevedo (Wellington, Fla.) and Jenna Torbert (Denver, N.C.) – were a part of the program that won a share of the regular season championship in 2008 as freshmen. All six, including Cheyanna Ohlrich (North Bend, Ore.) and Katie Zauner (Canby, Ore.), helped Upstate earn a spot in the six-team A-Sun Tournament in the team's first two years of eligibility on the Division I level the last two seasons and won 83 games in the last two years.

The day started with the thriller against Lipscomb in what was a classic pitcher's duel between two of the A-Sun's top pitchers in Childers and Lady Bison Whitney Kiihnl. The two combined to scatter six hits and only one run crossed the plate, an unearned run by Lipscomb in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Childers went the distance, tossing six innings with 11 strikeouts in the loss. Kiihnl also went the distance, allowing two hits with eight strikeouts to improve to 20-9 on the year.

With both hurlers strong in the circle, the game was decided on one play in the bottom of the sixth inning. Mollie Mitchell singled with one out for Lipsocmb. Courtney Billington then came up and smacked a double to left center. The ball tipped off the tip of Zauner's glove at the fence and Mitchell was able to score from first on the play on an unearned run after the error. Childers then retired the next two batters to end the inning.

Upstate could not mount an attack in the seventh, going three-up and three-down as Lipscomb took the win. Brasil and Janna Lewis (Huntersville, N.C.) each had a hit for the Spartans.

In the second game of the day, Upstate had to play back-to-back games and faced Mercer in the second elimination game of the tournament. In the end, Mercer came out on top to extend its stay in the tournament, while Upstate was eliminated from the tournament.

Mercer jumped on top with a run in the top of the second inning when Allison Jones came up with a pinch-hit RBI single. Upstate, though, took the lead with a pair of runs in the second inning. Ohlrich plated pinch runner Katelyn Molkenthin on a sacrifice fly and Ericka Harris (Piedmont, S.C.) scored on the play after a throwing error to give Upstate a 2-1 lead.

After a scoreless third inning, Mercer grabbed the lead for good with two runs in the fourth inning. Sarah Santana intended to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but the ball got through the Upstate infield and Anna Johnson scored from second on the play. Tiffany Phillips later drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to give the Bears a 3-2 lead. Both runs were unearned in the inning due to an error earlier in the frame.

Mercer hurler Jenni Holtz entered the game in the second inning and tossed six innings of relief to pick up the win. She allowed just one hit in six innings as Upstate couldn't crack the base paths. Holtz improved to 13-11 with the win. Childers came in to replace Upstate starter Hannah Alexander (Lexington, N.C.) to start the third inning. She allowed two unearned runs and struck out three to fall to 29-9 on the year.

Kassie Bailey led Mercer at the plate with two hits, while Lewis and Harris each had a hit for Upstate.