Run it Back, Recapping Upstate Softball's Historic 2024 Season
6/11/2024 3:34:00 PM | Softball
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - USC Upstate softball closed the books on an astounding 2024 season which saw the Spartans go 30-23 overall and 13-5 to claim the Big South Regular Season Championship for the second time in program history, become the first ever Upstate team to win a Big South Tournament Championship, and make its sixth NCAA appearance. Â
Head coach Chris Hawkins couldn't have been more pleased with the team's season long performance saying, "I am really proud of how we finished. We got off to a little rough start, but we kept getting up and put in the work every day. Coach Bryan Pack and coach Tonya Medders really did a good job of organizing strategies that would help us be successful. We have a good foundation to build on and I look forward to next season!"Â
Upstate softball began the year in an extremely unusual way as the first month of the regular season saw the Spartans go 7-7. The Spartans took on ranked opponents fairly early in the season as #15 Kentucky came to Spartanburg for the Wings Etc. Classic and Upstate took the road trip to Alabama to take on #25 ranked Auburn. Despite going into conference play with a 9-12 record, Upstate was eager to prove its overall record was not reflective of the team's true caliber. Â
 The intense first month and a half of play certainly proved that the Spartans were prepared for Big South opponents as Upstate took both the Radford and the Charleston Southern series, quickly establishing a top spot in the Big South. Upstate pulled off its first series sweep against Longwood before sweeping Presbyterian College the following week to go 10-2 in conference play with only two Big South opponents remaining. Â
After dropping game one against Gardner-Webb, Upstate was able to win back-to-back games to advance to 12-3 in conference with only one series remaining. While going through conference play, Upstate continued to battle against top teams including #9 Georgia and South Carolina and went into the final Big South series with a 26-18 overall record. Prior to the final series of the season, Upstate's season long efforts to separate itself from its conference opponents paid off as the 12-3 Spartans were named Big South Regular Season Champions. The Spartans dropped their first conference series in the final Big South matchup of the season against Winthrop, but regardless entered the Big South Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the second time in program history. Â
The No. 1 seed Spartans took on the No. 4 seed Buccaneers of Charleston Southern in round one of the tournament and cruised on through to the semifinals with a 6-3 victory. In the semifinal round, Upstate was once again pitted against Winthrop, but this time it would be the Spartans who came out on top with a 5-1 win over the host school to advance to the championship game. Saturday's championship game turned into a clash between the Spartans and the Eagles once again, but Winthrop would not go down easy and pushed the tournament to a winner-take-all final game with a 3-1 finish. Upstate softball made history with its 5-1 win over Winthrop in the final game of the Big South Softball Tournament, as it became the first USC Upstate team to win a Big South Tournament Championship. Â
Upstate's Big South Tournament victory was enough to earn a spot in the NCAA Regional Tournament, which is the program's sixth NCAA appearance, but its first since 2017. The Spartans took the road to Tuscaloosa, Ala. and faced off against No. 14 Alabama to begin their NCAA ride. After holding the ranked Crimson Tide scoreless through five complete innings, Alabama was able to get one run on the board, forcing Upstate to fall 1-0 in the first round. Upstate saw its season come to a close the following game after falling 8-0 to Clemson. Â
Throughout the season, Upstate remained in the top five in NCAA rankings for both total stolen bases and stolen bases per game. Several Spartans collected Big South weekly honors as well including Sierra Maness, Denver Lauer, Abby Polk, Cassie Norris, Celeste Delorenzo, and Maddie Drerup. Following the regular season several Spartans collected post-season conference recognition. Celeste Delorenzo and Denver Lauer were named to the All-Conference First Team while Sierra Maness and Alanna Deal received All-Conference Second Team honors. Maness was named to the All-Freshman Team as was Abby Polk; Abigail Pippen received an honorable mention from the conference for her season long efforts as well. Cassie Norris earned a spot on the All-Academic Team for her efforts in the classroom. Head coach Chris Hawkins was also named the Big South Coach of the Year for the second time in three years. Following the Big South Tournament, Denver Lauer, Alanna Deal, Cassie Norris, and Alyssa Kelly were named to the Big South All-Tournament Team. Kelly was named the Tournament MVP after helping the Spartans make history. Â
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