SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate softball team completed the three-game sweep of Gardner-Webb on Monday afternoon at Cyrill Softball Stadium and finished the season 18-2 at home.
 
In the first game of the double-header, the Spartans jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first two innings of the game. A three-run fourth inning, with RBI knocks from Sarah Price (Landrum, S.C.), Tiffany Domingue (York, S.C.) and Peyton Darnell (Fort Mill, S.C.) broke the game open and the Spartans held a 7-0 advantage.
 
In the top of the fifth inning, Gardner-Webb attempted to make a comeback with a three-run homerun from Abbey Goodrum. An RBI single from Brooke Perry brought the Runnin' Bulldogs within a trio of runs of the Spartans. Freshman Adison Yoder (Newton, N.C.) stepped in for the Spartans in the circle and pitched two shutout innings to collect her third save of the season.
 
In the second game of the afternoon, the Spartans once again got on the board first with a run in the first inning. Then a pitchers dual broke out between the two sides and neither side scored again until the bottom of the fifth inning. A pair of errors by the Gardner-Webb defense allowed USC Upstate to pull ahead 3-0.
 
In the top of the sixth inning, Perry hit a two-run homerun to centerfield and brought the Runnin' Bulldogs within a run. In the bottom half of the inning, Darnell singled down the right field line to give the Spartans a 4-2 cushion. A few batters later, Bre Cooper (Massillon, Ohio) roped a two-run double down the left field line for a 6-2 advantage over Gardner-Webb.  

 
Game One: USC Upstate 7, Gardner-Webb 4

Scoring Breakdown

Bottom 1^st: Price walked to start the inning and moved to second on a stolen base attempt. Domingue doubled to left center field and the Spartans were on the board first. Domingue then stole third and Darnell recorded an RBI ground out for the Spartans second run of the inning.
 
Bottom 2^nd: Cooper walked to start the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch. The freshman outfielder moved over to third two batters later and came in to score on a sacrifice fly from Price.
 
Bottom 4^th: With two outs in the inning, Marisa Soterakis (Miramar, Fla.) walked on four straight pitches and stole second to move into scoring position. A passed ball by the catcher allowed Soterakis to advance to third base. Price singled through the left side of the infield to score Soterakis from third. Price stole second and moved all the way to third on a Lanoux walk, with some heads up base running from Lanoux she stole second while the catcher was not looking. Domingue singled up the middle to score Price from third base. Domingue moved to third base, while Lanoux came in to score on a wild pitch from Gardner-Webb. Darnell ended the scoring with an RBI single to right center field.
 
Top 5^th: Back-to-back singles by Meredith Ferguson and Jenna Wacaster setup a three-run homerun for Abbey Goodrum with no outs in the inning. With one out in the inning, Leslie McNeil reached on a fielders choice and moved to second on a single from Weslyn Almond. A few batters later McNeil came around to score on an RBI single to right field from Perry.

Notables
Price: 1-1, 2 runs, 2 RBI's, 2 BB
Domingue: 2-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI's
Darnell: 1-4, 2 RBI's
S. Brown: W (8), 5.0 IP, 8 hits, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 K's
Yoder: S (3), 2.0 IP, 1 hit, 0 R, 0 ER, K

Game Two: USC Upstate 6, Gardner-Webb 2
 
Scoring Breakdown
 
Bottom 1^st: Price began the game with a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a stolen base. Price advanced to third on a wild pitch and came around to score on an RBI ground out from Domingue.
 
Bottom 5^th: Cooper doubled down the left field line with one out in the inning. A Celeste Delorenzo (Ormond Beach, Fla.) infield single moved Cooper over to third base. In the next at-bat Delorenzo stole second base and the Gardner-Webb catcher threw the ball into the outfield to allow Cooper to score. Soterakis then singled to left field and the left fielder threw the ball away and allowed Delorenzo to score. Soterakis advanced to second on the error but then got caught in a run down between second and third base.
 
Top 6^th: Trinity Sterrett singled to third base with one out in the inning. One batter later Perry hit a two-run homerun to put Gardner-Webb on the board.
 
Bottom 6^th: With two outs in the inning, Domingue doubled off the right field wall to keep the inning alive. Darnell singled down the right field line and scored Domingue from second base. Dezi Williams (Old Fort, N.C.) came in to pinch run for Darnell and stole second. Grigsby reached on a fielding error by third baseman. Cooper doubled down the left field line and brought in a pair of runs for the Spartans.  
 
Notables
Cooper: 2-3, Run, 2 RBI
Domingue: 1-3, Run, RBI
Darnell: 1-3, RBI
Soterakis: 1-2, RBI
M. Brown: W (10), 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K's

UP next for the Spartans
USC Upstate will have a break in their schedule to study for finals this week and will travel to Longwood the following weekend for their final regular season series.
 
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