Game Box (PDF)

Jacksonville, Fla. – Anna Miller turned in a second-straight dominant performance against North Florida and led the Spartans a to a 6-1 victory over the Ospreys Sunday afternoon in A-Sun softball action at the UNF Softball Complex. The win allowed the Spartans to take a three-game series sweep from the Ospreys.

Upstate improved to 26-4 overall and 7-2 in the A-Sun with the win Sunday. The Spartans return to the Carolinas and will travel to play Charlotte Wednesday afternoon before returning to Cyrill Stadium next weekend for a key three-game A-Sun series against Florida Gulf Coast. UNF fell to 17-11 overall and 2-7 in the league.

"Anna gave us great pitching again today," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "Our pitching really led us this weekend. We are going to head back home and work very hard at getting better."

Upstate put runners on in both the first and second innings without pushing anything across. UNF was the first to put a run on the scoreboard when Marissa Thomas connected on a solo home run in the second to give the Ospreys a 1-0 lead.

Upstate used a pair of UNF errors to tie the game at 1-1 in the third. Kendall Settlemyre started things off by reaching on an error. She advanced to second on a wild pitch and later scored when Cheyenne Griffin reached on another error.

The Upstate defense came up big in the bottom of the fourth inning. After Abby Tewey Singled with one out, Rachel Engle doubled to right. Tewey looked to score all the way from first, but Spartan right fielder Aly Schneider hit cutoff woman Dana Landers who turned and fired home to nail Tewey at the plate and save a run to keep the score at 1-1.

A half inning later, Landers came up huge again. Shellie Robinson singled with one out in the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Landers singled to center to drive in Robinson for the go-ahead run as Upstate opened a 2-1 lead.

Later in the fifth, Upstate loaded the bases after Maddison Kieffer reached on an error and Griffin was hit by a pitch. UNF lifted starter Kaylie Wallace and replaced her with Cortney Radke. The flood gates were about to open.

Landers scored on a wild pitch with Meredith Barnes at the plate, while also allowing the runners to move to second and third. Barnes then reached on an error, allowing pinch runner Lindsey Greeson to score from third and give the Spartans a 4-1 lead. After a ground out gave Upstate two outs and put runners on second and third, another wild pitch allowed both Spartans to score as Upstate opened a 6-1 advantage.

Miller, who tossed gem in the second game of the doubleheader sweep Saturday, punctuated the inning by retiring the Ospreys in order in the bottom half of the frame and the Spartans moved to the sixth inning with a five-run advantage.

Miller stayed dominant in the bottom of the sixth. She struck out the side to move Upstate into the final inning with a 6-1 lead. She allowed a single with one out in the seventh, but struck out the next two Ospreys to end the game and give the Spartans the sweep.

Miller went the distance, scattering five hits and allowing one run. She did not walk a batter, struck out 11 Ospreys and improved to 9-2 on the year. Wallace took the loss for UNF, allowing five runs on four hits to fall to 7-5.

Robinson led the Upstate offensive attack. She finished with three hits and a run. Landers collected a pair of hits with a run and RBI.

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