CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In their first road game of the season the USC Upstate softball team came up short in a 3-2 defeat to Charlotte on Wednesday afternoon.
The loss drops the Spartans to 8-2 on the season, while Charlotte improves to 6-6 on the year. Only 11 total hits occurred in the contest as the two sides combined for 10 strikeouts in the game. For USC Upstate this ended an overall six game winning streak and a series best five game winning streak over Charlotte.
Scoring Breakdown
Top 1st: With one out in the top of the first inning
Savannah Grigsby (Elgin, S.C.) singled to left field on a 1-1 count. One batter later and
Alyssa Oakes (Winter Park, Fla.) laced a two-out double into left field for the first run of the game.
Bottom 1st: Spenser Gray reached on an infield single to lead-off the inning. On a 2-1 count Bailey Vannoy hit a two-run homerun to centerfield to give the 49ers an early 2-1 advantage.
Top 5th: Alicia Dorgan (Leesville, S.C.) singled through the left side of the infield to start the inning for the Spartans offense. Dorgan advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from
Marisa Soterakis (Miramar, Fla.), one batter later and Dorgan was 60 feet away from tying the game after reaching third on a fielder's choice.
Savannah Grigsby laced a ball up the middle and the game was tied once more.
Bottom 6th: Riley Krueger drew a leadoff walk to begin the inning and she was replaced by Tessa Hawkins on the pass paths. Hawkins advanced to second on a passed ball and made it all the way to third on a 49ers single. With one away in the inning Cori Henderson laid down a sacrifice bunt that ended up driving in the go-ahead run for Charlotte.
Notables
Offensively both
Savannah Grigsby and
Alyssa Oakes and 2-for-3 outings at the plate, with each player recording an RBI in the process.
In the circle senior pitcher
Erin Hill (Maryville, Tenn.) threw 6.0 innings and allowed just two earned runs on six hits. The Volunteer State native struck out a game high six 49ers.
Up next for the Spartans
The USC Upstate softball team will be back in action this weekend at the Wings ETC… Classic at Cyrill Stadium. The tournament starts at 11:00 a.m. on Friday morning and runs through Sunday afternoon. The Spartans will play at 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon and all four of the USC Upstate games can be seen on ESPN+ this weekend.
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