Box Score Game Box
Nashville, Tenn. – A two-run home run by Kristen Sturdivant in the fourth inning was the difference as Lipscomb took a 3-2 victory over 24th-ranked USC Upstate in the third game of the A-Sun series at Draper Diamond Sunday afternoon.
The Lipscomb win gave the series to the Lady Bisons, the first time this season Upstate has lost a league series. Upstate fell to 35-5 overall and 16-3 in the A-Sun. The Spartans remain in first place in the A-Sun. Lipscomb improved to 24-19 overall and 11-7 in the league.
"They made all the plays today, all of the plays they needed to win the game," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "We will go back to work and get ready for what is going to be a tough week coming up with games at Georgia and key conference games at Florida Gulf Coast."
Just as was the case in the start of game two Saturday, Meredith Barnes (Salem, Ore.) gave Upstate a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. On Saturday, she scored on a wild pitch. On Sunday, she belted a solo home run to lead off the game. It was the eighth homer of the season for the junior.
Upstate got a solid defensive play to get out of a jam in the bottom of the first. Lipscomb's Brittany Elmore reached on a walk to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch. However, the Spartans threw her out at third on a delayed steal attempt for the first out of the inning and got out of the frame maintaining its 1-0 lead.
Lipscomb tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning. With Heather Montgomery on second and two outs, Bridgette Begle singled through the middle for the tying run. The Lady Bisons opened a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning when Kristen Sturdivant hit a two-run home run.
After Kendall Settlemyre (Hickory, N.C.) doubled to lead off the fifth inning, Lipscomb third baseman Paige Neely made a pair of solid defensive plays. She made a diving catch of a short foul ball and then came up with a grounder on a hard hit ball.
Neely's defensive plays notwithstanding, Upstate was able to produce in the fifth. After Ericka Harris (Piedmont, S.C.) nearly took the head off of Hawkins on a fouled liner but managed to hit him in the wrist, she reached base on an error by the Lipscomb first baseman. The error allowed Settlemyre to score from second to cut the Lady Bisons lead to 3-2 and put runners on the corners with two outs. A walk to Shellie Robinson (DeLand, Fla.) loaded the bases and Lipscomb starter Tanner Sanders was lifted for Heather Parker. Parker got a ground out to end the Spartan fifth inning.
Upstate tried to chip away at the lead in the sixth, putting runners on first and second with two outs on singles from Maddison Kieffer (Middleburg, Fla.) and Lindsay Kelly (Jacksonville, Fla.). However, Parker was able to get a strikeout to end the inning. The production setup the Spartans for the seventh inning, though, bringing the top of the order to bat.
With two outs in the top of the seventh, Robinson tripled to right, putting the tying run on third. However, Lipscomb got a ground out to end the game and take the 3-2 win.
Sanders earned the win for Lipscomb to improve to 14-7 on the year, while Parker got the save. Miller took the loss for Upstate, suffering her first loss and falling to 3-1 on the year.
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