Childers, Lewis Named All-Tournament at A-Sun Softball Championship
5/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
A-Sun Softball Championship Page
Spartanburg, S.C. – Following the completion of the championship game of the 2011 A-Sun Softball Championship on Saturday, USC Upstate standouts Morgan Childers and Janna Lewis were named to the all-tournament team.
Childers (Kings Mountain, N.C.) and Lewis (Huntersville, N.C.) were two of 11 players named to the A-Sun All-Tournament team. It marks the second all-tournament selection for Childers and the first for Lewis.
Childers led Upstate in three games in the A-Sun Championship. She started two games and came in to pitch five innings of relief in a third. She finished the tournament with a 1-2 record, though she gave up no earned runs in 18 innings of work. She struck out 20 and tossed two complete games in the tournament.
She began the tournament by getting the win in the 7-5 victory over Kennesaw State. Despite allowing five runs, none were earned when all five runs scored in the fourth inning after two Upstate defensive errors. Childers struck out six in the win to move the Spartans into the second round.
In the second round, Childers battled Lipscomb ace Whitney Kiihnl. She went the distance, striking out 11 in the 1-0 loss. Lipscomb scored the game-winning run on an error in the bottom of the sixth inning. With Upstate facing elimination and against Mercer, Childers was inserted into the game to start the third inning. She tossed five innings of relief with three strikeouts in the 3-2 loss. Mercer scored two unearned runs off of her in the fourth inning to take the lead after an error extended the inning.
Lewis was the main offensive threat for Upstate in the tournament. While the Spartans hit .167 as a team in three games, Lewis was strong, leading the squad with a .429 batting average. She finished the three games with three hits, including a double, with two runs and an RBI.
Lewis began the tournament with by going 1-for-2 with a sacrifice bunt, RBI and two runs to lead Upstate to a 7-5 victory over Kennesaw State in the first round of the tournament. She was one of two Spartans to get a hit off of Kiihnl in Upstate's 1-0 loss to Lipscomb in the second round, and was one of two Spartans to get a hit in the 3-2 loss to Mercer in the elimination game.
Strong at the plate, Lewis was also solid defensively. She was flawless in nine chances, recording seven putouts and two assists in three games. She was also a threat running, stealing two bases in three games.
The selections of Childers and Lewis to the A-Sun All-Tournament team in 2011 marks the fifth all-tourney selections in two appearances in the conference championship. Last year, Childers was joined on the all-tournament team by Kim Brasil (Mississauga, Ontario) and Lauren Quevedo (Wellington, Fla.) after Upstate made a run to the championship game in the event held at Stetson.
