THIS WEEKENDS MATCH UPS
March 3 | 2:00 p.m. | Northern Illinois
March 3 | 4:00 p.m. | Kansas
March 4 | 2:00 p.m. | Army
March 4 | 7:00 p.m. | South Florida *stream available*
March 5 | 11:30 a.m. | Rhode Island
Live Stats: Please use the live stat links on the Upstate softball schedule or the USF Tournament Central page as the stat links vary for each contest.
Tournament Information: USF Bulls Invitational Tournament Central - USF Athletics (gousfbulls.com)
Overview:
Following the three home tournaments last season, USC Upstate went to Florida but to Deland to participate in the Stetson Invitational. At the Stetson Invitational, Upstate saw coach Hawkins earned his 1,000th career win as a head coach thanks to a walk off home run from Peyton Darnell. The Spartans will enter the Bulls Invitational undefeated with a 15-0 record after hosting three consecutive home tournaments and two mid-week opponents.
Players to Watch:
USC Upstate: Upstate is riding a 15-game win streak after beating WCU 6-2 and 5-1 on Wednesday. Tiffany Domingue continued to perform well as she had two runs, three hits, one stolen base, and one RBI against WCU while Denver Lauer had three runs and two hits. Alyssa Kelly advanced her record to 9-0 on the season while Maddie Drerup threw her first complete game and advanced her record to 5-0. Kelly leads the pitchers a 0.80 ERA with 44 strikeouts in 52.1 total innings pitched. Cassie Norris hit her first career grand slam to help Upstate win in game one while pinch hitter Liza Simmerson hit her first career homerun to help Upstate win game two.
Northern Illinois: NIU enters the Tournament with a 3-7 record after going 2-3 at the Liberty Tournament last weekend. Friday saw two losses for the Huskies as they fell 5-0 to Marshall and 8-0 to Liberty. NIU split its two games against Elon on Saturday with a 7-4 win followed by an 8-7 loss. The Huskies finished the tournament with a 6-1 win over Princeton. Daniel Stewart helps lead the Huskies with two runs, six hits, two homeruns, five RBI, and 14 total bases as well as a .519 slugging percentage. Stewart has also seen time in the circle this season with a 1-4 record, 3.23 ERA, and 20 strikeouts in 26.0 innings pitched.
Kansas: Kansas enters the tournament with a 10-5 record on the season after competing in the Texas State Tournament and walking away with a 4-1 record. The Jayhawks started the tournament with a 14-0 six inning win over Texas-Arlington before falling 2-1 to Texas State. Saturday brought two more wins for Kansas as it defeated UTSA 3-2 before beating Colorado State 6-3. The Jayhawks finished the tournament with a 10-0 five inning win over Texas Southern. Lyric Moore leads the Jayhawks so far this season with 11 runs, 15 hits, six doubles, one triple, three home runs, 14 RBI, and 32 total bases along with a .667 slugging percentage. Addison Purvis and Kasey Hamilton have three wins each on the season as Hamilton leads the pitchers with 27.2 innings pitched and 28 strikeouts.
Army West Point: Army enters the tournament with a 3-8 record in the 2023 season so far after splitting a double-header with Stetson Hall on Sunday. The morning game against Stetson Hall finished with a 3-2 win for Army before the Black Knights fell 11-0 in game two. Taylor Brown leads Army so far this season with four runs, eight hits, one double, two homeruns, four RBI, and 15 total bases as well as a .536 slugging percentage and .444 on base percentage. Breanna Izzo, Olivia Farris, and Alicyn Grete all have wins in the circle this season as Grete leads for innings pitched (22.2) and strikeouts (17).
South Florida: Host, South Florida will kick off the tournament with a 6-9 record after hosting the USF Invitational last week. The Bulls finished the USF Tournament with two wins and two losses after playing two ranked teams. Thursday the Bulls played #5 Clemson and fell 6-0. Friday USF played #9 Tennessee and lost 9-0. The Bulls finished the tournament with a 6-1 win over Michigan State followed by a 7-3 win over UIC on Saturday. Hallie Bryant helps lead the Bulls with three runs, nine hits, one double, one homerun, seven RBI, and 13 total bases as well as six stolen bases and a slugging percentage of .591. Antoinette Hill leads the Bulls pitchers with three wins while Payton Dixon leads in ERA (2.14) and innings pitched (32.2) and Gabriella Nori leads in strikeouts (34).
Rhode Island: Rhode Island enters the tournament with a 1-4 record after the Rams started their season at the Bob Heck Classic. Friday brought two losses for Rhode Island as the Rams fell 5-3 to Eastern Kentucky and 6-1 to Purdue Fort Wayne. Saturday the Rams started the day with a 12-3 five inning loss to Purdue Fort Wayne before beating Georgia State 7-0. Rhode Island finished the tournament with a 10-3 loss to Eastern Kentucky. Rachel Zingerman helps lead the Rams offense this season with four runs, four hits, one double, one triple, one home run, three RBI, 10 total bases and a .833 slugging percentage. Liz Lynchard holds the sole win for the Rams along with a 3.57 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 15.2 innings pitched.
UP NEXT FOR THE SPARTANS
Upstate will return home to host Stetson in a three-game series set for Friday (3/10) and Saturday (3/11). Special alumni events are scheduled for Saturday March 11th.
Alumni Reunion Weekend
The reunion weekend will be highlighted by a special presentation following the Upstate vs. Stetson contest on Saturday, March 11. First pitch is tentatively set for 1:00 p.m. The post game presentation is one former players of head coach Chris Hawkins will not want to miss. Following the presentation there will be dinner, music and an Alumni Game. If you plan to attend, please let us know here.
Connect with the Spartans
Facebook.com/UpstateAthletics
Twitter | @UpstateSoftball @UpstateSpartans
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YouTube.com/UpstateSpartans
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