Spartanburg, S.C. – Two pieces of history were made in USC Upstate softball’s doubleheader sweep at Gardner-Webb Wednesday afternoon as Shellie Robinson became the Spartans’ Division I era career home runs leader and Anna Miller threw the third no-hitter of her Spartan career in game two. Upstate defeated GWU 6-0 in game one and 1-0 in game two.
Robinson’s solo home run in the fifth capped the scoring in game one and gave her 34 career home runs, breaking the school’s Division I era school record of 33 hit by Lauren Quevedo from 2008-11. Robinson stands second on the program’s all-time career list, trailing only Upstate Athletics Hall of Fame member Stacey Berrong, who hit 46 from 1996-99.
Miller was simply untouchable in the second game of the sweep en route to throwing the third no-hitter of her Upstate career. She threw a no-hitter against George Mason during the regular season last year and a perfect game against Jacksonville State in the NCAA Tournament. It was the 21st no-hitter in the history of the Upstate program. Miller struck out a career-high 14 batters en route to improving to 2-0 on the year. The only blemish on her performance was a walk in the second inning.
Upstate has now won 14 straight against Gardner-Webb and improved to 10-0 on the season with the sweep. The Spartans will host the Spartan Classic Friday-Sunday at Cyrill Stadium, welcoming Furman, Liberty, Western Carolina and Winthrop to Spartanburg for the three-day tournament.
“Some days you hit the ball well but right to people, and that was the case in the second game,” said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins, now just nine wins away from No. 700 in his career. “Thank goodness Anna was as good as she was in the second game. They could not touch her. Both of our starters were on today.
“Shellie has been a tremendous player for us since her freshman season. We count on her to deliver in a lot of different ways and she continues to have success. I could not be more proud of her and what she has accomplished. She’s not done yet.”
Alexander was strong in the first game of the doubleheader. She tossed a complete game with nine strikeouts and allowed just three hits to improve to 4-0 on the year. She got early run support from her teammates as the Spartans cruised to the win.
After a scoreless first inning, Upstate got on the board with two runs in the second inning. With two outs and runners on second and third, Erin Schattle singled up the middle to score Maddison Kieffer and Lindsey Greeson.
Again with two outs, Upstate produced three runs in the third inning to put the game out of reach. Dana Landers reached on an error with one out and Robinson followed with a two-out double that scored Landers. Cheyenne Griffin walked and stole second to put runners on second and third. Kieffer followed with a two-run single as the Spartans opened a 5-0 lead.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Robinson made Upstate history with her solo shot to left field in the fifth, giving Upstate its final winning margin, 6-0. Robinson and Jaeger led Upstate at the plate, each finishing with two hits.
The second game was a pitcher’s duel throughout. Just as Alexander was nearly untouchable in the first game, Miller was untouchable in the second.
After Upstate was retired in order in the first two innings, the Spartans put runners on first and second with no outs in the third. However, Gardner-Webb got out of the inning without surrendering a run.
Upstate finally cracked the scoreboard in the fourth inning and opened a 1-0 lead, but it could have been even better. Griffin singled with two runners on to score Robinson from second. The Spartans went on to load the bases with no outs, but Gardner-Webb got three straight fielder’s choice force outs at home to end the threat and the inning.
Upstate had runners on the corners with one out in the fifth, but couldn’t push anything across and clung to its 1-0 lead. The Spartans again put runners on the corners with one out in the sixth, but lined into a double play to end the inning.
Miller, though, had all of the run support she would need and sat down the Bulldogs in order in six of the seven innings she pitched en route to the no-hitter.
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