SPARTANBURG, S.C.- The Gardner-Webb softball team dropped both of its games to the University of South Carolina Upstate 4-0 and 10-3 in a non-conference doubleheader on Thursday evening at Cyrill Stadium.
With the victory, USC Upstate improves to 31-7 overall on the season and 19-2 on its home field, while Gardner-Webb drops to 11-24.
Game 1: Gardner-Webb 0, USC Upstate 4
Entering the game second in the country with 69 home runs and a team batting average of .352, Summer Darnell held the Spartans to just eight hits in six innings of work.
Gardner-Webb pounded out six hits against Lexi Shubert, but Kendall Settlemyre hit two solo home runs to power the Spartans to victory in the first game of a doubleheader.
Shubert earned her 22nd victory of the season for the Spartans, tossing the complete-game shutout and striking out seven.
Looking to jump out to an early lead, Gardner-Webb put runners on first and second getting singles from Kellie Beres and Rachel Cumiskey, yet could not score a runner as Schubert got Megan Champion to ground into a fielders choice to end the top of the first.
Similar to the top of the inning, the Spartans would have runners on first and second with two outs, bringing Cheyenne Griffin to the plate, but Darnell got out of the jam with a strikeout to keep the game scoreless after one inning of play.
Savannah Burns led off the second with a single to right field, putting a runner on base for a second straight inning, but Shubert recorded three straight outs to end the inning.
USC Upstate took a 1-0 lead on a solo home-run by Settlemyre and loaded the bases with just one out, but Darnell got Aly Schneider to hit a ground ball to Champion who fired home for the force out. With the bases still loaded, Shellie Robinson had a chance to extend the inning and increase the lead for Upstate, but Darnell got the senior to pop out to Scarlett Harris to end the inning surrending just one run.
Cumsikey was hit by a pitch in the third and Breanna Blakley hit a two-out single in the fourth, but the Runnin' Bulldogs would still trail 2-0 after the top half of the fourth inning.
Dana Landers and Paris Prusak hit a pop fly to the first baseman and a ground ball to Burns for the first two outs of the fourth, but Greeson kept the inning alive, drawing a two-out walk and stole second base to put herself into scoring position. Reinfeld capitalized on the situation, hitting an RBI single to left field to give the Spartans their second run of the game.
Beres and Harris each hit singles for the Dogs in the fifth and sixth inning respecitevly, but Settlemyre blasted her second home run of the game in the fifth and Schneider hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth, and Schubert sent the Runnin' Bulldogs down in order in the seventh to send USC Upstate to the 4-0 victory.
Game 2- Gardner- Webb 3, USC Upstate 10
Gardner-Webb jumped out to a 2-0 lead but USC Upstate used a four run third inning and a five run sixth inning to complete the sweep of the Runnin' Bulldogs with a 10-3 victory in the second game of the doubleheader.
Amanda Storch picked up her eighth win of the season, scattering six hits over seven innings, while striking out four. For the Dogs, Ashley Wark got the start, allowing three earned runs in three innings of work, and was replaced by Sam Harrell in the fourth inning, who allowed four earned runs in the final three innings of play.
Beres and Gibbons hit two straight singles to lead off the first and advanced to second and third respectively on a wild pitch, as the Runnin' Bulldogs had runners in scoring position with nobody out in the inning. Cumiskey popped out to the shortstop for the first out, but Harris scored Gibbons and Beres on an RBI single down the right field line to give the Dogs a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning.
Wark sent the Spartans down 1-2-3 in the first, and in the bottom of the second inning, Upstate had runners on second and third with nobody out and looked as if it would take the lead, but Dana Landers hit a ground ball to Burns who fired it to Cumiskey at home plate for the force out. Wark would escape the inning without surrending a run, recording the second out on a fly ball to right field by Kara Beasley and the inning would end on a ground out to Gibbons.
Storch would not allow a hit in the top of the third and in the home half of the inning, Robinson hit an RBI single to center field and Settlemyre hit a three-run bomb and USC Upstate would plate four runs in the third to take a 4-2 lead after three innings of play.
Champion hit a one-out double in the fourth, but Robinson drove in her second run of the game to make the score 5-2.
Gibbons led off the sixth with a double to left center and would later come around to score when Champion reached on an error by the Spartans, but USC Upstate would plate five runs in the bottom of the sixth, and would complete the sweep of the Runnin' Bulldogs with a 10-3 victory.
Gardner-Webb returns to action this weekend when it faces Longwood in a three-game series. First pitch for Saturday's doubleheader is slated for 1:00 and 3:00 p.m., while Sunday's game is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.
