BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. - USC Upstate softball took the short ride to Boiling Springs, N.C. to take on Gardner-Webb and swept the Bulldogs in Friday's doubleheader with a 10-2 win in five innings in game one and a 7-6 win in game two. Maddie Drerup collected two wins on the day while five Spartans recorded homeruns including Peyton Darnell who hit two, including the game winner in game two.  

Upstate started game one with intensity, establishing a five-run lead by the middle of the third. Casey Goguts started things off for the Upstate offense with a homerun over left field in the top of the first. Despite no runs scored in the second, the Spartans stacked three homeruns in the third via Denver Lauer, Tiffany Domingue, and Summer Johnson (two-RBI). The bottom of the third brought Gardner-Webb its two runs of the game with a two-RBI homerun over center-field. The fourth inning saw two more runs for Upstate as Alanna Deal came home for her first run of the game and Sarah Price scored off Domingue's ground out. Peyton Darnell jumped on the homerun train with one sent over left field in the top of the fifth. Delorenzo kept the Spartans' scoring going in the fifth as she reached home off a wild pitch. In a similar fashion to her first, Deal came home of another fielder's choice for Lauer to cap Upstate's runs in game one.  

Game two started a bit differently as the Runnin' Bulldogs not only scored first, but kept the Spartans off the board for the first two innings. Domingue opened the flood gates for the Spartans as her double sent Mady Lanoux home for the first run of game two. A triple from Goguts, a double from Darnell, and a single from Delorenzo helped send Spartans home to give Upstate a 4-3 lead in the third inning. The Bulldogs tied the game at four runs in the bottom of the fourth but Upstate was quick to respond in the top of the fifth as Goguts scored her second run of the game. Gardner-Webb used the second half of the fifth to score one run and force the Spartans to trail by one run through the sixth inning. With time for scoring opportunities running out, Peyton Darnell came up big, hitting a two-RBI homerun that gave Upstate a two-run gap from Gardner-Webb. GWU was able to send one more in but was stopped at six runs as the Spartans came out on top with a second win.  

For the first time this season, Maddie Drerup started in the circle for game one of the series. Drerup earned her 14th win and 12th complete game of the season as she had five strikeouts in game one. Alyssa Kelly made her 27th game start of the season in game two and pitched 5.0 innings until she was relieved by Drerup. Drerup pitched the remaining 2.0 innings and had two strikeouts to reach her 15th career win.  

Game One     
Score: USC Upstate 10; Gardner-Webb 2 

Record: USC Upstate (32-15, 8-8 Big South) vs. Gardner-Webb (16-29, 5-8 Big South)  

Location: Brinkley Softball Stadium | Boiling Springs, N.C. 

How it Happened: 

T1: Casey Goguts hit a homerun over left field to give Upstate its first run of the day.  

T3: Denver Lauer hit a homerun over left field to give Upstate a two-run lead. 

T3: Tiffany Domingue added to the Spartans' lead with a homerun over right center.   

T3: Summer Johnson continued Upstate's streak of homeruns with a two-RBI homerun hit over center field. 

B3: Visintine hit a two-RBI homerun over center field to put GWU on the board.  

T4: Denver Lauer connected with the ball and reached first on a fielder's choice as Mady Lanoux was called out at second, Sarah Price advanced to third, and Alanna Deal scored.  

T4: Domingue grounded out to the short stop but it provided enough time for Price to reach home. 

T5: Peyton Darnell added to Upstate's total with a homerun over left field.  

T5: A wild pitch from the Bulldogs allows Price to advance to second, Deal to third, and Delorenzo home. 

T5: Lauer once again reaches on a fielder's choice while Deal brings in the final run of the game.  

Game Two     
Score: USC Upstate 7; Gardner-Webb 6 

Record: USC Upstate (33-15, 9-8 Big South) vs. Gardner-Webb (16-30, 5-9 Big South)  

Location: Brinkley Softball Stadium | Boiling Springs, N.C. 

How it Happened: 

B1: Visintine hit a two-RBI homerun over right field.  

B2: Fava sent a single down the left field line to tack on another run for GWU.  

T3: Domingue hit a double to right field which sent Lanoux home from third.  

T3: Goguts sent a triple deep into right field which gave Domingue time to reach home.  

T3: Darnell sent a double through right field to score Goguts and tie the game. (3-3). 

T3: Delorenzo was able to hit a single up the middle to score Darnell and give Upstate a one-run lead (4-3). 

B4: Garcia hit a single up the middle to send Christopher home to tie the game (4-4).  

T5: S. Johnson hit a single up the middle to send Goguts home for the go ahead run.  

B5: Christopher grounded out to Mady Lanoux while Key scored to tie the game (5-5).  

T7: Darnell hit her second homerun of the day over center field to send Domingue home first and bring in the final run for the Spartans. (7-5) 

B7: Perry hit a sacrificed fly out to right field which scored Goodrum. (7-6).  

Notable                

• The last time Upstate saw five different Spartans hit homeruns was in 2015 when Upstate beat ASun Opponent North Florida 15-4 (Six homeruns by six Spartans). 

• Upstate has now recorded eight wins that came after five innings: Bucknell (8-0), UMES (11-0), IONA (10-0), Army (9-1), S.C. State (8-0), Charleston Southern (9-0), Radford (17-3), and Gardner-Webb (10-2).  

• The last time Peyton Darnell hit multiple homeruns in a day was March 6, 2022 against FIU. 

• Last season, Darnell also hit homeruns in 2/3 games of the series against Gardner-Webb. 

• This was the second time Maddie Drerup has collected two wins over a Big South opponent (Radford, 3-2, 17-3). 

Up Next for the Spartans 

Upstate will return to Boiling Springs, N.C. tomorrow to finish the three-game series with Gardner-Webb.  

      
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