SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate softball team is looking to end a four game road losing streak on Wednesday afternoon at Pepsi Stadium against the Furman Paladins.
 
USC Upstate (16-8, 6-0 Big South) is coming off a pair of walk-off losses to Western Carolina on Monday afternoon. The Spartans battled back in the first game, as Savannah Grigsby (Elgin, S.C.) hit her first career homerun to tie the game at three in the top of the fifth inning. A blop single in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the Catamounts the victory.
 
In the second game of the day, the Spartans got out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Western Carolina took the lead back in the bottom of the second. The Spartans scored a trio of runs in the top of the fourth inning gave USC Upstate a 5-3 advantage, but a two-run triple in the bottom of the fifth sent the game into extra innings. In the bottom of the eighth, the Catamounts won a sacrifice fly. USC Upstate is now 1-5 against schools from the Southern Conference.
 
Since the 2009 softball season, USC Upstate is 18-1 against Furman (8-15, 2-1 SOCON) and is currently on a six-game winning streak against the Paladins. The Spartans average 5.16 runs per game against Furman and hold a 9-1 record in games played in Greenville, S.C. The last time the Spartans traveled to Furman, they swept the Paladins and recorded their 40^th win of the season in the process. Junior catcher Alyssa Oakes set the school single-season RBI record in the process.
 
For Upstate this season Bre Cooper (Massillon, Ohio), Sarah Price (Landrum, S.C.), Tiffany Domingue (York, S.C.) and Peyton Darnell (Fort Mill, S.C.) are the players to watch on the offensive end. Cooper leads the team in batting average (.391), and is second on the team in runs scored (21), hits (25), homeruns (3) and total bases (39). Cooper is also a multi-time Big South Freshman of the Week honoree this season. Price is second on the team in batting average (.354) and leads the team with 29 total hits and 7 doubles.
 
Domingue and Darnell have propelled the team offensively in the middle of the lineup this season. Together the two have combined for 21 extra base hits and 42 RBI's this season. Domingue is currently on a 12-game hitting streak and is now batting .352 on the season. Darnell just ended an 11-game hitting streak and is batting .311 on the season. Marisa Soterakis (Miramar, Fla.) rounds out the Spartans .300 hitters and she leads the team with 10 stolen bases on the year.
 
Furman went 2-1 this past weekend against UNC Greensboro and the Paladins are 0-1 against Big South schools this season with a 9-2 loss to Winthrop earlier in the year. Emily Bartlett leads the Paladins with a .309 average, runs scored (15), total hits (21) and total bases (37). Bartlett is tied for second with Mackense Greico in homeruns (4) and Claire Ginder leads the team with five homeruns on the season.
 
The games can be seen on ESPN+, live stats links and a recap following the games can be found on upstatespartans.com. 
 
Attendance Policies
Furman is not allowing visiting fans this season. 
 
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