Toledo Box Score (.pdf)

Western Carolina Box Score (.pdf)

Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate softball team concluded play at the Buffalo Wild Wings Classic on Saturday afternoon by holding off the Toledo Rockets and Western Carolina Catamounts for a pair of non-conference victories from Cyrill Stadium.

Upstate has now won 12 games in a row and improved to 15-2 on the season with the wins, while Toledo dropped to 3-11 overall and Western Carolina 2-2.

The Spartans began the day by defeating the Rockets 4-1 and then earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory against the Catamounts.

GAME ONE – TOLEDO 1, USC UPSTATE 4

Scoring Breakdown

• Top 1^st – Toledo used the first batter of the game to go ahead 1-0 as Chandler Rice hit a leadoff home run to left field against Upstate starter Lexi Shubert.
• Bottom 1^st – The Spartans responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the first when Ryan Rector belted her second home run of the season, tying the score at 1-1.
• Bottom 2^nd – Upstate added to its lead at 3-1 in the second as Kori Wancheck hit her first career home run, a two-run blast, over the left center field fence.
• Bottom 5^th – Karla Beasley made it 4-1 in favor of the Spartans in the fifth with her RBI single to center field. Ansley Gilstrap, who led off the inning with a walk, scored on the base hit.

• Shubert (7-1) tied her career-high of 11 strikeouts in the outing and compiled her eighth complete game of the season after holding the Rockets to just one run on two hits and one walk.
• Heather Webb (1-3) suffered the loss after pitching five innings and gave up four runs on six hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
• Rector and Beasley led Upstate offensively with two hits apiece, and Wancheck drove in a game-high two RBI.
• Rice had one hit and one RBI for Toledo, while Kylie Gross collected the other hit.

Scoring Breakdown

• Bottom 6^th – The Spartans broke through offensively in their half of the sixth, breaking a scoreless tie by scoring twice to lead 2-0. Abbie Millete started the scoring with her one-out double down the left field line that plated Rector from second base. Millete later scored when a single to right field by Megan Obier was mishandled by the Western Carolina right fielder.
• Top 7^th – The Catamounts cut the Upstate lead in half at 2-1 when Courtney Price hit a solo home run to right center field to start the inning.

• Holly McKinnon (7-1) picked up her sixth consecutive win after tossing 6.1 innings and surrendered one run on two hits, one walk and struck out 11 batters. The 11 strikeouts marked the third time this season that McKinnon has recorded double-digit strikeouts and fell one shy of tying her career-high.
• Shubert (3) picked up her third save of the season, and second this weekend, by striking out the only two batters she faced.
• Lily Hayes (1-1) took the loss after throwing six innings and allowed two runs on six hits, one walk and five strikeouts.
• Millete posted a two-hit performance for the Spartans in three plate appearances and had one RBI.
• Gilstrap, Beasley, Obier and Brittany Case each added one hit.
• Price had a team-high two hits and one RBI for Western Carolina.

• Upstate faces the Catamounts for the second time in five days on Wednesday, Mar. 1 at 4 p.m. from Cyrill Stadium.