SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate softball team will be playing in their fourth tournament of the season this coming weekend as they travel down to the coast of the Palmetto State to play in the 2020 Courtyard Marriott Barefoot Landing Invitational.
 
USC Upstate (12-2) has gone 10-1 in tournaments this season, the last two weekends the Spartans went 8-0 against the competition to close out the home tournament portion of the schedule. The Spartans have won four straight games dating back to Wednesday, February 19. USC Upstate had a slight hiccup against Charlotte in their first road game of the season.
 
So far this season the underclassmen have stepped up on the offensive side of the ball to carry the Spartans. Freshman second baseman Tiffany Domingue (York, S.C.) currently leads the team in batting average (.409), OPS (1.097), at-bats (44), hits (18), doubles (5), homeruns (2), RBI's (13) and total bases (29). Sophomore centerfielder Savannah Grigsby (Elgin, S.C.) is currently second on the team in batting average (.359), total hits (14) and RBI's (11).
 
In the circle this season veterans Erin Hill (Maryville, Tenn.), Mallie Brown (Stockbridge, Ga.) and Celina Sullivan (Albuquerque, N.M.) have carried the work load for the pitching staff. Both Hill and Sullivan are tied for the team lead in wins (4) and strikeouts (36). Hill has made the most appearances this season with 10 on the year and all three-starters have an era of 2.21 or lower. As a whole pitching unit the Spartans hold a 1.40 era and opponents are hitting just .183 against USC Upstate.
 
The Spartans will play Monmouth in their first game of the tournament on Saturday afternoon at 4:15 p.m. USC Upstate last played Monmouth in 2017 at the USF-Under Armor Invitational and won 8-1. The Hawks are 6-5 on the season and they are the winners of two straight over Evansville and Maryland Eastern Shore.
 
USC Upstate and Maryland Eastern Shore will meet for a second time this season at the Marriott Barefoot Landing Invitational in the Saturday night tilt. Earlier this season the Spartans no-hit the Shore Hawks on Valentine's Day in an 8-0 victory.
 
On Sunday afternoon the Spartans will play Ohio University in the first game of the day at 9:15 a.m. The Bobcats are 6-10 this season and they are coming off a 10-1 run rule victory over Maryland Eastern Shore earlier today. USC Upstate will conclude the tournament with an afternoon tilt against Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleer's are 9-3 this season and they have won eight consecutive games dating back to February 9^th. Coastal Carolina is 0-1 against Big South teams this season with a 4-3 loss to Campbell.
 
All games will be live stated and the live stat link can be found at upstatespartans.com and the tournament finale against Coastal Carolina can be seen on goccusports.com.

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