SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate softball team will be putting their five game winning streak on the line this weekend as they travel to Farmville, Va., to battle Longwood University in the regular season finale of the 2021 softball season.
 
This will be the sixth meeting between the two programs since the 2017 season. Longwood (24-25, 12-6 Big South) holds a 5-0 record against the Spartans, including a pair of postseason wins. In 2017, USC Upstate (25-13, 12-3 Big South) lost to Longwood 4-2 in the Knoxville, Tenn., Regional. In 2019, the Spartans lost 4-2 in the Big South Tournament to the Lancers. The last time USC Upstate traveled to Longwood, they went 0-3 against the Lancers.
 
After having a week off for final exams and graduation, the Spartans are back in action. USC Upstate is currently riding a five game winning streak, dating back to April 20^th against Western Carolina. In the first game of the Gardner-Webb series, USC Upstate set a new attendance record at Cyrill Stadium with 769 people packing the stands. The game also marked the first ever nationally televised game as the Spartans defeated the Runnin' Bulldogs 2-1 on a walk-off hit by Marisa Soterakis (Miramar, Fla.). USC Upstate completed the sweep of Gardner-Webb on Monday afternoon with a pair of wins at Cyrill Stadium.
 
USC Upstate concluded the 2021 home schedule with an 18-2 record at Cyrill Softball stadium. USC Upstate is now 59-4 inside Cyrill Stadium since the start of the 2019 season. The Spartans hold a home record of 304-54 since moving to Division I and an overall record of 404-83 since Cyrill Stadium was built in 2002.
 
Mallie Brown (Stockbridge, Ga.) has earned Big South Pitcher of the Week honors in back-to-back weeks for her performance in the circle against Big South opponents. Last week, Brown picked up her 10^th win of the season against Gardner-Webb and she will be looking for her 100^th strikeout of season against Longwood this weekend.
 
Tiffany Domingue (York, S.C.) earned Big South Freshman of the Week honors for the second time this season on Monday afternoon. Domingue batted .429 against the Runnin' Bulldogs and led the team with a trio of hits. The freshman infielder also hit a pair of doubles and scored three runs. Domingue drove in a team high three RBI's against Gardner-Webb and finished with five total bases.
 
Two other players to watch for the Spartans this weekend are Sarah Price (Landrum, S.C.) and Peyton Darnell (Fort Mill, S.C.). Darnell leads the team in homeruns (8) and RBI's (32), while Price leads the team in batting average (.367) and total hits (47).
 
Longwood is coming off a weekend series against North Carolina A&T and went 1-1 against the Aggies in a road series in Greensboro, N.C. The Lancers are 7-6 in home games this season and 14-14 in road games.
 
Nia Green, Sydney Jacobsen and Alexis Wayland lead the Lancers on the offensive side of the ball. Green leads the team with a .264 batting average, while Jacobsen and Wayland each have 41 hits on the season.
 
Sydney Backstrom is the Lancers top pitcher with an 18-11 record with 22 complete games and five shutouts on the season. Backstrom has recorded 173 strikeouts in 185.1 innings of action.  
 
Every game will be shown on ESPN+ this weekend. Livestats for all games and a recap following the days action can be found at upstatespartans.com.   
 
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