Oakland Box Score (.pdf)
N.C. Central Box Score (.pdf)
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate softball team opened play at the Upstate Invitational Friday with a pair of five-inning victories over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies and N.C. Central Eagles at Cyrill Stadium. The Spartans defeated Oakland 14-2 before registering a 14-0 win in game two over N.C. Central.
Upstate has now won four straight to open its season and sit a 4-0 overall heading into the second day of the Upstate Invitational on Saturday.
The Spartans are scheduled to play twice starting at 1 p.m. against Akron. Upstate will then face Savannah State at 3 p.m.
Game 1 – Oakland 2, USC Upstate 14
The Spartans began their day by scoring 13 runs in the second inning en route to defeating Oakland 14-2. Five different Upstate batters had at least two hits in the game led by Kendsey Chappelear who went 3-for-3 with two runs scored. Ansley Gilstrap drove in a game-high four runs while Brittany Case added three RBI.
Lexi Shubert (2-0) earned the win after pitching 4.0 innings and allowed two runs on just one hit while striking out four. Kori Wancheck finished the game by tossing the final inning in relief and struck out one. Kaley Waalkes (0-1) suffered the loss for the Golden Grizzlies after allowing nine runs (three earned) on seven hits, two walks and two strikeouts over 1.2 innings.
The 13 runs scored by the Spartans in the bottom of the second are the most since plating 11 in the first inning on Feb. 23, 2013 versus Howard. Upstate homered three times during the frame from Case, Gilstrap and Abbie Millete. Case and Gilstrap highlighted the inning with a pair of three-run homers, while Millete blasted a two-run home run. The Spartans had three other players record an RBI in the inning in Ryan Rector, Megan Obier and Amy Szymanowski.
Oakland would score twice in the top of third to make the score 13-2 after a two-RBI single by Mikayela Marciniak, but Upstate answered with a run in its half of the fourth inning to put the final score at 14-2. Gilstrap recorded her fourth RBI of the game following a one-out double.
Marciniak had the only hit of the contest for the Golden Grizzlies.
Game 2 – N.C. Central 0, USC Upstate 14
The Spartans collected a season-high 18 hits in their final game of the day against N.C. Central, led for the second straight contest by Chappelear who had four hits and three runs scored in four plate appearances. The sophomore was one of six players for Upstate with at least two hits. Szymanowski had a game-high four RBI to go with two hits, including her first home run as a Spartan.
Amanda Storch (1-0), making her first start of the season, held the Eagles to three hits over 4.0 scoreless innings and had six strikeouts. Kinsley Jennings came on in relief of Storch and pitched 1.0 inning and posted one strikeout. Dominique Wilson (0-2) took the loss after giving up 12 runs (nine earned) on 15 hits in 2.1 innings of work.
The Spartans broke the game open early courtesy of an eight-run first inning to go ahead 8-0. Upstate had the first two runners reach base before Szymanowski hit her first homer as a Spartan to give them a quick 3-0 lead. Rector would add two more runs for Upstate after hitting her first long ball of the year and Gilstrap drove in two more runs with a single. Case rounded out the first inning scoring the next at-bat with another single.
Chappelear drove in Millete in the bottom of the second to increase the Spartan advantage to 9-0. In the third, Upstate had three cross the plate on an RBI single by Szymanowski, and two bases loaded walks from Wancheck and Millete. Case and Karla Beasley both had RBI doubles during a two-run fourth inning for Upstate.
N.C. Central was led offensively by Wilson, Markell Wylie and Jenny Tracy with one hit each.
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