Game One Box (PDF) | Game Two Box (PDF)
Game Highlights and Postgame Interviews
Spartanburg, S.C. – USC Upstate freshman pitcher Jamie Ujvari flirted with a no-hitter before settling for a 5-0 shutout in game two and Upstate claimed an adventurous 8-6 victory in game one as the Spartans swept Furman in a non-conference doubleheader Wednesday at Cyrill Stadium.
Ujvari (Niceville, Fla.) took the no-hitter into the seventh inning, but Furman collected two hits in the seventh to break it up.
Upstate improved to 12-1 on the year with the sweep. After playing 13 games in the last 19 days, the Spartans will take this weekend off before returning to action next Tuesday and Wednesday when they make an ACC swing at N.C. State and North Carolina. Upstate will play a doubleheader against N.C. State Tuesday beginning at 4:00 p.m. and a single game against North Carolina on Wednesday evening at 5:00. Furman fell to 6-4 on the season. It marked the 11th straight victory in the series for Upstate.
"Jamie has pitched solid the last three times she has gone out there," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "I couldn't be more proud of her effort and her ability to get ahead of hitters, which allowed us to get back in and hit. She was really good today and gave us a very good performance when we needed it.
"Today was the first time that we experienced some struggles defensively. We made more errors today than we have all season. We have five days to get on top of that and I feel sure the work ethic will allow us to do so. When we hit the ball as well as we did in the first game, it allowed us to absorb the absence of defense. It is good for us to go through struggles and it will only make us stronger."
Upstate took the lead early in the second game of the day. The Spartans put runners on the corners with one out and plated a run when Ericka Harris (Piedmont, S.C.) scored on a double steal to open a 1-0 advantage.
After two scoreless innings in the second and third, Kendall Settlemyre (Hickory, N.C.) gave Ujvari some insurance. She smacked a line drive two-run home run over the wall in center to give the Spartans a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. It was her third career home run and the first of the season for the sophomore.
Upstate made it a 4-0 game when Harris smacked a two-out double that scored Hayley Reinfeld (Parkland, Fla.) from second in the bottom of the sixth. The Spartans plated another run when Shellie Robinson (DeLand, Fla.) reached on an error and Harris scored from second on the play.
Ujvari entered the top of the seventh with a no-hitter and having faced the minimum. However, pinch hitter Alexis Galinski singled to shallow right to break up the no-no. The Paladins put runners on the corners with one out, but Ujvari got a strikeout and a pop out to end the game and secure her first complete game shutout of her young college career.
Ujvari struck out six to improve to 3-0 on the year to lead Upstate in the second game. Settlemyre, Reinfeld and Harris each had two hits in the game for the green and white. Meaghan Houston tossed five innings and took the loss for Furman to fall to 3-1 on the year.
Coming off of a tremendous weekend when she dominated the Coke Zero Spartan Classic, Robinson didn't take long to continue her torrid hitting streak. She belted a three-run homer in the top of the first of game one to give the Spartans an early 3-0 lead.
Uncharacteristic mistakes in the field cost Upstate in the top of the second inning. The Spartans committed two fielding errors and one throwing error to allow Furman to score two runs on Stephanie Spain's double as Furman cut the Upstate lead to 3-2.
After Furman starter Lauren Collier held Upstate scoreless for three innings, Robinson sparked the Spartans in the fifth. She led off the inning with a double and scored on Jessica Ujvari's (Niceville, Fla.) single up the middle to give Upstate a 4-2 lead. The Spartans made it a 5-2 lead on Lindsay Kelly's (Jacksonville, Fla.) bases loaded RBI single.
Upstate put runners on second and third with one out after a Furman error allowed Robinson to reach and the runners move up. After relief pitcher Shelby Parker got a strikeout, Maddison Kieffer (Middleburg, Fla.) followed with a two-run triple and Cheyenne Griffin (Moore, S.C.) followed with an RBI double to give the Spartans an 8-2 lead. All three runs were unearned due to the error on the Robinson grounder.
Furman made things interesting in the top of the seventh. The Paladins loaded the bases with one out. Nikki Legg hit a two-run single to cut Upstate's lead the 8-4. The Paladins again loaded the bases with one out. Sierra Bishop delivered with a bloop single to right to cut the Upstate lead to 8-5. Taylor Collins followed by grounding into the unnatural 4-3-6 double play to end the game, but a run scored during the rundown on the third out for the final 8-6 margin.
Hannah Alexander (Lexington, N.C.) went the distance in the circle for Upstate. She allowed six runs, four earned, on nine Furman hits to improve to 6-1 on the year. Collier took the loss after allowing seven runs, five earned, on 11 Upstate hits to fall to 3-2 on the year.
Robinson was one of four Upstate players to finish the game with two hits and also had three RBIs and three runs. Kieffer finished with three hits and two runs. Spain led Furman with two hits, while Legg tallied two RBIs.
