The USC Upstate Spartans softball program capped its most historic season in school history on Sunday, May 17, falling to No. 1 Alabama 9-0 in the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional Final but completing a run that rewrote the record books for Upstate Athletics.
The Spartans finished with a 38-23 overall record and 12-6 in Big South Conference play — claiming their third consecutive Big South Championship and becoming the first Big South team since 2018 to advance to an NCAA Regional Final. That combination of achievements placed USC Upstate’s 2026 season among the most accomplished in program history.
Sunday’s finale saw the Spartans take the field at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa against a Crimson Tide squad that entered at 52-7 and held the No. 1 overall national seed. Alabama broke through in the second inning on a two-run home run by Jena Young and never looked back, building a 6-0 lead through five innings before closing with three runs in the seventh to finalize the 9-0 result. Mackenzei Bernal-Mahagan recorded the lone Upstate hit, advancing to third base before Alabama stranded her and completed the shutout. Pitcher Maddie Drerup finished with a 21-15 season record for the Spartans. Alabama’s Vic Moten improved to 20-4.
The Tuscaloosa Regional journey was itself historic. On Saturday, May 16, Upstate defeated both Belmont 10-1 and pushed into the Regional Final by winning three games across the bracket — a feat that required eliminating what were seeded as the No. 2 (Belmont) and No. 3 (Southeastern Louisiana) seeds in the field. The Spartans had defeated Southeastern Louisiana 5-4 on Friday, May 15, before topping Belmont the following day to earn the right to face Alabama in the Regional championship round.
The season produced statistical milestones across the roster. USC Upstate registered 525 hits on the year — their second consecutive season surpassing 500 hits — with four players individually reaching 60 or more hits. Outfielder Taliyah Thomas led that group with 80 hits on the season. Infielders Ella Christopher and Alyssa Davenport, along with catcher Laney Jennings and infielder Carson Shaw, all posted double-digit doubles totals as the team finished with 105 doubles, the most since the 2022 season. Five players eclipsed 10 doubles: Abby Polk, Ella Christopher, Taliyah Thomas, Alyssa Davenport, and Laney Jennings.
Five seniors concluded their collegiate careers in Tuscaloosa on Sunday. Ella Christopher, Maddie Drerup, Carson Shaw, Amie Johnson, and Taliyah Thomas all made their first and final appearances at NCAA Regionals in Tuscaloosa — having also made the trip to the same venue in 2024. For each of them, the 2026 postseason run gave their careers a fitting stage to finish on: the National Stage, playing for a program that had never been there before.
The Spartans’ program now turns its attention to 2027. Head coach and the Upstate athletics department acknowledged the accomplishments of the senior class while emphasizing that the three-peat as Big South Champions establishes a standard the program intends to defend. The Big South Conference championship three consecutive times puts Upstate in a select group of programs nationally when measured by sustained conference dominance in softball. With a core of underclassmen returning and the infrastructure built around a postseason-caliber roster, the Spartans will enter the 2027 campaign as the team to beat in the Big South.
For Spartanburg and USC Upstate, the 2026 softball season represents a high-water mark — a program once outside the national conversation now competing deep into May on the same field as the country’s No. 1 team. That story belongs to Spartanburg.
