Upstate's Season Ends with 3-2 Loss to Jacksonville State
5/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Auburn, Ala. – Jacksonville State scored three runs in the third inning, and held off a late Upstate rally, as the Gamecocks defeated the Spartans 3-2 in an elimination game of the NCAA Auburn Regional Saturday evening from Jane B. Moore Field.
Upstate finishes the season with a 43-15 overall record while Jacksonville State improves to 43-16.
Taylor West (17-5) earned the win after pitching 5.0 innings and gave up two runs on seven hits, four walks and three strikeouts. Lexi Shubert (10-7) suffered the loss after tossing her tenth complete game of the season and allowed three runs on five hits, two walks and five strikeouts.
Brittany Case led the Spartans offensively with a 2-for-3 performance while Amy Szymanowski had two RBI. Elle Denes had a team-high two hits for the Gamecocks and Taylor Sloan drove in two runs.
Jacksonville State took a 3-0 lead over Upstate in the top of the third after plating three runs on a single and double. Anna Chisolm led off the inning with a single and would steal second with no outs. Chisolm scored from second on Denes' RBI single that hit off the glove of a diving Szymanowski at third. Sloan made it 3-0 with her two-RBI double into the right centerfield gap, driving in Denes and Jordan Bullock. Bullock reached on a single the previous at-bat.
The Spartans looked to score in back-to-back innings after putting runners in scoring position during the second and third. Szymanowski started the second with a walk and was pinch-run for by Kristen Wright. Wright went to third after a single by Case, who then stole second. A strikeout and two groundouts halted the frame for Upstate. In the bottom of the third, Megan Obier singled and Ryan Rector walked with one out, and both would move to third base on a wild pitch. The inning would end for the Spartans with a pop out and groundout.
Upstate broke through in the bottom of the fifth courtesy of Szymanowski's 15th home run of the season. After the first two Spartan batters were retired to start the inning, Karla Beasley reached on a single to center field. Szymanowski came through on a 3-2 offering from West and belted a two-run home run over the right center field fence, cutting the Upstate deficit to 3-2. It was the second home run of the regional for Szymanowski.
Whitney Gillespie recorded the game's final two outs in the seventh to pick up her fourth save of the season.
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