Spartanburg, S.C. – Lacey Dinney turned in her third-straight strong start, finishing the game with 13 strikeouts to lead USC Upstate to a 4-0 victory over La Salle in the Upstate Softball Tournament Friday afternoon at Cyrill Stadium. The win was the eighth shutout in nine games this season.

Upstate improved to 9-0 on the season and will play both Liberty and Savannah State Saturday afternoon. La Salle dropped its season opener in the loss.

Dinney (Hannon, Ontario), who tossed a no-hitter in Upstate's final game last weekend in the Spartan Invitational against UNC Wilmington and struck out 13 at Gardner-Webb on Wednesday, had another strong outing. She struck out 13, walked just one and scattered four hits to lead Upstate to the win. She improved to 3-0 on the season.

Upstate also increased its streak of not allowing an earned run to nine games this season and has not given up an earned run all season long. The streak almost came to an end in the fifth inning when Breanna DiTomaso doubled to left with a runner on first. The runner, Danielle Cullen, attempted to score on the play, but Spartan left fielder Shellie Robinson (DeLand, Fla.) fired the ball to the cutoff Maddison Kieffer (Middleburg, Fla.) and Kieffer gunned Cullen down at the plate to get out of the inning.

"I thought we did a good job hitting the ball hard today, it was just right at people," said Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins. "Give credit to La Salle, they made plays on those hard-hit balls. Lacey pitched another very good game. It is always good to see her get ahead in the counts."

After three scoreless innings, Upstate took the lead with a pair of runs in the fourth. Robinson reached on a three-base error by the right fielder and scored on Ashley Butler's (Laurens, S.C.) double. Pinch runner Kara Lohr (Lexington, N.C.) later scored on an error.

Upstate made it a 4-0 game with a pair of runs in the sixth. Robinson led off the inning with a solo home run to left and pinch runner Lindsey Greeson (Stanley, N.C.) scored on Kieffer's RBI-single. The home run was Robinson's second of the season and this week.

Butler and Kieffer each had two hits to lead Upstate at the plate. Robinson scored two runs.

La Salle's Alicia Aughton went the distance for La Salle, giving up four runs, two of which were earned, with three strikeouts. She fell to 0-1 on the year.

Game Results
Game 1 – Liberty 8, Savannah State 6 - Box Score
Game 2 – Upstate 4, La Salle 0 - Box Score
Game 3 – Liberty 7, Savannah State 1 - Box Score

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