Pitcher Haley Brogden. Photo taken by Jeremy Giovanni
In a doubleheader between USC Upstate Spartans (26-13) and the Western Carolina Catamounts (9-20), the Spartans beat the Cats in both games through a dominating offensive performance on Wednesday, April 4 in Cullowhee, NC.
In the first game, the Spartans started out hot with a six-run lead in the first inning. They managed to get four more runs to end the game early before the sixth inning. While WCU was able to get one hit out of sixteen at bat, allowing them to get 2 runs, the Spartans won the first game 10-2.
The stand out hitter for the Spartans was freshman third baseman, Logan Morris. Morris went 3-4 with 3 RBIs.
Outfielder Hunter Gibbons had the only hit in the game for the Cats which was a two run homer.
The Catamounts struggled against junior pitcher, Christina Biggerstaff. Biggerstaff claimed her 12th win of the season, pitching five innings with eight strikeouts and only allowing two runs.
Catamount sophomore pitcher, Kinsey Liscio started the game and, after allowing six earned runs in the first inning, she was replaced by freshman pitcher, Haley Brogden who allowed the next four runs after the first inning.
Hunter Gibbons home run celebration. Photo taken by Jeremy Giovanni.
In the second game, the Catamounts improved in their hitting but were still no match for the Spartans who had a slower start than in the first game. The Spartans had an offensive explosion, gaining seven runs from the second to the fourth inning, and then cooled off by not scoring a single run for the rest of the game.
The Catamounts took advantage of the Spartans scoring drought and were able to bring the game to within four runs, but were not able to overcome the deficit and wound up losing the game 7-3.
In the loss, the Catamounts had two players hitting home runs. Sophomore infielder, Ashlyn Long hit two solo home runs on 3 at bats. Gibbons also tacked on her own home run in the second loss against the Spartans.
“We weren’t able to stop them from scoring in that first game at all, and we took a little too long to figure it out at the end,” said Cats head coach Jim Clift.
This weekend, the Catamounts will host a three game series against Chattanooga, with the first game on Saturday, April 7, at 1 p.m.
