University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Villanova
Spartans Fall to Villanova in USF Under Armour Showcase
3/9/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Clearwater, Fla. – Despite a solid effort from Hannah Alexander in the circle, USC Upstate fell victim to a string of unlucky offensive situations and took a 2-1 loss from Villanova to open the USF Under Armour Showcase at the Eddie C. Moore Softball Complex Friday evening.
Upstate fell to 18-2 on the year with the loss and will take on Syracuse Friday night at 6:30. Villanova imrpoved to 8-3 on the year with the win.
"I have never seen us hit the ball so hard for an entire game in awhile. The fact they caught most of them says a lot for Villanova's defense. We made two mental mistakes base running. Other than that, we played a good game," said Hawkins.
Upstate started to mount a scoring threat in the top of the second inning, putting runners on first and second with one out after singles from Janna Lewis (Huntersville, N.C.) and Lindsay Kelly (Jacksonville, Fla.). However, the Wildcats got out of the inning when Maddison Kieffer (Middleburg, Fla.) hammered a line drive back to the pitcher and the pitcher caught it and completed the double play at second.
Villanova made the most of its opportunity in the bottom of the inning when Molly Manning reached on an error to start the inning and scored on Amanda Marquez's RBI-single to right center with two outs.
Upstate's bad luck continued in the top of the third. Kendall Settlemyre (Hickory, N.C.) led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third with two outs. Ericka Harris (Piedmont, S.C.) lined a shot down the line at third, but Villanova third baseman Kristi Burlin was just quick enough to get a glove on it and make a snow cone catch for the third out of the inning.
Upstate put together another promising inning in the top of the fourth. Shellie Robinson (DeLand, Fla.) started things off with a walk and Cheyenne Griffin (Moore, S.C.) reached on an error to put runners on first and second. After a sacrifice bunt by Lewis, Burlin made another standout play at third. Kelly slammed a line drive down the line and Burlin came up with the ball and tagged Robinson before she could get back to third for the inning-ending double play, keeping Upstate off the board.
Villanova added to the lead with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Fujii doubled with one out and scored on Smetana's RBI single to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.
Upstate again put runners on in the fifth inning. Kieffer started things off with a leadoff single and Settlemyre followed by reaching base after being hit by a pitch. A sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out. Hayley Reinfeld (Parkland, Fla.) singled to drive in Kieffer, but was thrown out at second trying to advance on the play and Settlemyre was thrown out at home attempting to score on the throw down to second to get the Wildcats out of the inning with a 2-1 advantage.
Upstate could not get anything going in the sixth or seventh inning as Villanova held on for the win. Wildcat starter Caitlyn Delhaba went the distance to earn the win and improve to 5-2 on the year. Villanova improved to 8-3.
Alexander also went the distance for Upstate, allowing two runs, one of which was unearned, on seven hits with six strikeouts. She suffered her first loss of the season and fell to 11-1. Reinfeld led the Spartans at the plate with two hits.
