Box Score

2014 Women's College World Series Bracket

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 21 University of South Alabama softball junior shortstop Kaitlyn Griffith brought the Jaguars level with No. 24 USC Upstate from 3-1 down with a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth, but the USA could muster a second comeback after Upstate tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth at the 2014 NCAA Tuscaloosa Softball Regional at Rhoads Stadium.
 
The loss, USA's first in seven extra-inning games this season, sends the Jaguars (40-13) to the losers' bracket, where they will face the loser of No. 2 Alabama and fourth-seeded SIU-Edwardsville at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
 
Upstate (46-7) outhit USA, 11-8, on the day and took advantage of a pair of Jaguar errors, the second credited to Griffith after her throw wide of first in the top of the eighth allowed Spartan leadoff Meredith Barnes to reach. Barnes eventually scored to make it 4-3 Upstate on designated player Aly Schneider's one-out single. Dana Landers scored the Spartans' fifth run on Kendall Settlemyers's sacrifice fly to deep left field.
 
Each club traded a run in the first frame, and Upstate scored a run apiece in the tops of the fourth and sixth innings to go ahead, 3-1.
 
Griffith's third home run of the season and her first in 49 games tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth, the junior shortstop going deep over center with two outs on the board after Jaguar leadoff Stephanie Pilkington singled.
 
Upstate's Anna Miller moved to 19-5 on the year after striking out six USA batters to five walks and allowing three runs (all earned) on eight Jaguar hits, while South Alabama starter Hannah Campbell fell to 17-6 after giving up five runs (three earned) on 11 Spartan hits, striking out a pair to as many walks. Farish Beard pitched 1/3 of an inning of relief, retiring the only batter she faced with one pitch.
 
"What a great ball game," said eighth-year USA head coach Becky Clark. "It was two really, really good teams going at it – two great pitchers going at it.  I'm very proud of our kids for how hard they competed.  I didn't think we took a pitch off the entire time – felt like we went after it the entire time.  I think more people need to be talking about what a good ball club USC Upstate is, that's a very good club, a very well-coached team.  They did what they needed to do to win today."
 
USA's Julie Moss went 3-for-4 on the day to lead all Jaguars, while also delivering one RBI. Pilkington was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Griffith was 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run. Blair Johnson scored one run, and Alex Breeden and Amanda Herron provided a hit apiece.
 
Landers was 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored for the Spartans, while Maddison Kieffer and Hayley Reinfeld were both 2-for-4 with a run scored apiece.
 
"I knew it would be a fight," said Campbell. "Whenever you get to postseason, you're going to fight. [USC Upstate] did a great job hitting. They took good pitches and did something with them, so all the credit to them. I just knew it was going to be a fight going out there."
 
 
Kieffer's two-out RBI single scored leadoff Shellie Robinson from third to put Upstate ahead, 1-0, in the top of the first. Moss scored Johnson to answer in the bottom half of the opening frame with a two-out single of her own.
 
Upstate went ahead, 2-1, in the top of the fourth on Erin Schattle's groundout, which allowed Kieffer to score from third. Landers scored Reinfeld from third with a two-out single to put the Spartans ahead, 3-1, in the top of the sixth.
 
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