SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate softball team is headed up the road to Boiling Springs, N.C. for the Big South Tournament this week as the No. 2 Seed in the field.
 
USC Upstate finished the regular season with an overall record of 26-15 and 13-5 in conference competition to finish in second place in the regular season standings. This is the second consecutive season in which the Spartans have been the No. 2 seed. Campbell is the No. 1 seed after finishing the regular season with an overall record of 24-16 and 15-3 in Big South play. The Spartans and the Camels never faced each other this season as the original matchup was cancelled due to COVID within the Camels program.
 
The Longwood Lancers earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament with an even 26-26 overall record and a 14-7 Big South record. The Lancers and the Spartans went toe-to-toe this past weekend in Farmville, Va., with Longwood taking the overall series 2-1 over USC Upstate. Each game was decided by a single run, as the Spartans took the series finale 4-3 on Mother's Day to close out the regular season with a win.
 
Radford finished tied for fourth in the Big South standings with Winthrop, but won the head-to-head series allowing the Highlanders to advance to the Tournament as the No. 4 seed. USC Upstate got the better of the Highlanders as they took the series 2-1 at Cyrill Softball Stadium.
 
In the final week of the regular season, freshman catcher Peyton Darnell (Fort Mill, S.C.) earned Big South Freshman of the Week honors for the third time this season. Over the weekend, Darnell batted .750 against the Lancers and led the team with four RBI's, six hits and nine total bases. The accolades kept rolling in for the freshman catcher as she picked up All-Big South First Team honors and All-Freshman Team honors on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Fellow freshman Bre Cooper (Massillon, Ohio) earned Freshman of the Year honors by the Big South Conference. Cooper also earned a spot on the All-Conference Second Team and All-Freshman Teams for her performance on the field this season. Tiffany Domingue (York, S.C.) earned a spot on the Second Team as well as the All-Freshman team to join her teammates.
 
Starting shortstop Sarah Price (Landrum, S.C.) earned a spot on the All-Conference First Team for the second time in her career. Price also landed on the All-Academic Team for her performance in the classroom. The Spartans pitching staff also collected a pair of postseason honors from the Big South Conference. Mallie Brown (Stockbridge, Ga.) earned a spot on the All-Conference Second Team, while Savannah Brown (Mint Hill, N.C.) earned a spot on the All-Freshman Team.
 
The Spartans will be looking to make a run at their first Big South Championship since joining the Conference in 2018. USC Upstate made it to the semi-finals in the 2019 tournament before being eliminated by Winthrop. The Spartans will face Longwood for the fourth time in a seven day span at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. If the Spartans win, they will play either Campbell or Radford at 2:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon. If the Spartans lose, they will have to play at 11:00 a.m. on Friday and then again at 5:00 p.m. in order to advance to the Championship round on Saturday afternoon.
The first round of the tournament can be seen on ESPN 3, while the semifinals and Championship games will be broadcasted on ESPN +. Live video links and stat links can all be found at upstatespartans.com.
 
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