Upstate Softball Announces 2015 Schedule
8/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Spartanburg, S.C. – Coming off the most successful season in the history of the program, including the regular season A-Sun championship and a second-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, USC Upstate head softball coach Chris Hawkins and the Spartan program have announced the 2015 schedule with a non-conference schedule highlighted with nine games against programs from the SEC and ACC.
"This is the toughest schedule we have ever played," said Hawkins, who was named the A-Sun Coach of the Year and reached the 700-win plateau in 2014. "We have a seasoned team and I look forward to seeing how we face the challenges. The A-Sun is a tremendously deep conference, placing three teams in the NCAA Tournament last year. It will again be a fierce battle to see who will win the regular season and tournament championships. We fully expect that our non-conference schedule will help prepare us for the challenges during conference and postseason play."
Upstate will face another daunting schedule in and out of the A-Sun with the goal of battling for an A-Sun title and a third-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Spartans fill face four teams from the ACC, including No. 7 Florida State along with Georgia Tech, North Carolina and N.C. State, and two SEC teams No. 12 Georgia and South Carolina to highlight their non-conference schedule. Upstate's games against North Carolina and N.C. State will be played at home in Cyrill Stadium.
Upstate will again host preseason tournaments in early February. The Upstate Classic will be played Feb. 13-15 as the Spartans will welcome Furman, George Mason, Northern Colorado and Radford to Spartanburg. The Spartan Invitational will be played Feb. 20-22 and Upstate will welcome Bryant, Morehead State and Presbyterian to Cyrill Stadium.
In addition to the two home tournaments in February, Upstate will play 22 games at home and 20 games on the road. The Spartans will also play in Winthrop's Combat Invitational Feb. 27-28 with opponents to be named later. Upstate will host four three-game A-Sun series against North Florida, Stetson, Lipscomb and Northern Kentucky, while hitting the road in conference play at Kennesaw State, Jacksonville and Florida Gulf Coast.
Upstate opens the season on the road playing two games in Elon, N.C. on Feb. 7. The Spartans will open against Elon at 1 p.m. and face Radford at 3:00 p.m. Upstate will play its home opener when it plays host to the Upstate Classic to close out the first full week of the season.
A trip to Atlanta for a doubleheader at Georgia Tech on Feb. 18 precedes the Spartan Invitational on Feb. 20-22. Upstate hits the road for a doubleheader at Furman on Feb. 25 before closing out the month at the Combat Invitational at Winthrop Feb. 27-28.
Upstate opens March at home playing back-to-back non-conference games against Appalachian State and Western Carolina (doubleheader) on March 2 and 3. The Spartans will take a week off before hosting North Carolina for a single game on March 10 before heading to Tallahassee, Fla., for a doubleheader at Florida State on March 12, beginning the longest road stretch of the season. Upstate opens A-Sun play at Kennesaw State March 14-15.
Upstate's will travel to ETSU for a doubleheader on March 17 before traveling to Jacksonville, Fla., to take on Jacksonville in a three-game A-Sun series March 21-22, ending a 10-game road stretch. The Spartans return home to close out the month with a doubleheader against N.C. State on March 25 and their A-Sun home opener against North Florida March 28-29.
Upstate opens April on the road at A-Sun rival Florida Gulf Coast April 3-4 and plays at South Carolina on April 7, the first meeting between the two schools since splitting the season series, 1-1, in 2011. The Spartans return home to face Gardner-Webb in a doubleheader April 9 before hosting Stetson in an A-Sun series April 11-12. Upstate travels to Athens, Ga., to take on Georgia on April 15.
Upstate will close out the regular season with seven-straight home games, starting with an A-Sun series against Lipscomb April 18-19. The stretch of games beginning with the game at South Carolina on April 7 and ending with the final game of the series against Lipscomb on April 19 has the Spartans playing eight games against NCAA Tournament teams in a 12-day span.
Upstate will play a single game against Charlotte on April 22, while the Spartans will close out the season with an A-Sun series against Northern Kentucky April 25-26. Upstate will battle to secure a spot in the A-Sun Tournament, which is being hosted by Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers, Fla, May 6-9.
Upstate is coming off a tremendous season in 2014. The Spartans broke the school's Division I era record for wins, just one shy of the all-time mark of 47 set by the 2007 squad in the program's final year playing in Division II. Upstate turned in a 22-2 record in the A-Sun to win the league's regular season championship by five games, giving the Spartans three conference titles in seven years. Upstate became the first A-Sun team in the history of the conference to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Softball Tournament and was ranked in the two major Top 25 polls for seven weeks during the season, including the final six leading into the NCAA Tournament. The Spartans finished with a No. 29 ranking in the final NCAA RPI, the top-ranked school in the A-Sun and in South Carolina.
Individually, Upstate took home a number of impressive awards and honors. Hawkins was named the A-Sun Coach of the Year, the first in his 20-year career. Anna Miller was named the A-Sun Pitcher of the Year, the A-Sun's NCAA Woman of the Year, second team NFCA all-region, first team all-conference, A-Sun Scholar-Athlete of the Year for softball and became just the second Spartan ever to earn Capital One First Team Academic All-America honors. Outfielder Shellie Robinson was named a NFCA Third Team All-American, first team NFCA all-region, A-Sun Player of the Year and first team all-conference. Lexi Shubert was named the A-Sun Freshman of the Year and was a first team all-conference selection. Cheyenne Griffin and Kendall Settlemyre joined the three as first team all-league picks, while Dana Landers was a second team all-conference honoree. Ryan Rector joined Lexi Shubert on the all-freshman team in the A-Sun.
Schedule Quick Facts
- Upstate will play two schools ranked in the final Top 25 polls in 2014: Florida State #7/#7, Georgia #12/#13.
- Upstate will play seven teams that played in the NCAA Tournament in 2014: Bryant, Florida State, Georgia, Lipscomb, N.C. State, South Carolina, Stetson.
- Upstate opponents Florida State and Georgia advanced to the Super Regionals of the NCAA Tournament with Florida State making it to the College World Series.
- The Spartans will play 4 ACC schools: Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, N.C. State
- Upstate will play 2 SEC schools: Georgia, South Carolina.
- The Spartans will play 2 schools (3 games) ranked in the Top 25 in the final NCAA RPI for 2014.
- Upstate will play 6 schools (12 games) ranked in the Top 50 in the final NCAA RPI from 2014.
- The Spartans will play 11 schools (24 games) ranked in the Top 100 in the final NCAA RPI from 2014.
- Upstate will play 14 schools (33 games) ranked in the Top 150 in the final NCAA RPI from 2014.
