CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College softball team has arrived at their third consecutive weekend of hosting a multi-team tournament, welcoming four visitors to town for the Scotsman Invitational this weekend.
Wrapping up a sequence of what is now 12 straight home games to begin the season (following Wofford’s postponement earlier this week), the Blue Hose have scheduled a round robin event where each team plays four times and no two schools match up more than once.
PC’s part in the tourney starts tomorrow when facing Valparaiso at approximately 5:15. From there, they’ll compete twice on Saturday against Monmouth and Cleveland State before closing the busy weekend with Maryland Eastern Shore on Sunday afternoon (streaming live on ESPN+).
Head coach David Williams’ unit has entered an early-season hot streak, able to win four games already by two runs or less and holding a 5-3 mark altogether.
GAMEDAY INFO – FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21
Presbyterian (5-3) vs. Valparaiso (2-2)
WHERE / WHEN: PC Softball Complex | 5:15 PM
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast
GAMEDAY INFO – SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22
Presbyterian (5-3) vs. Monmouth (0-10)
WHERE / WHEN: PC Softball Complex | 2:30 PM
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast
Presbyterian (5-3) vs. Cleveland State (1-8)
WHERE / WHEN: PC Softball Complex | 4:45 PM
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast
GAMEDAY INFO – SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23
Presbyterian (5-3) vs. Maryland Eastern Shore (1-3)
WHERE / WHEN: PC Softball Complex | 12:15 PM
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast
SCOUTING VALPARAISO
- Familiar with the Beacons due to a 6-1 victory over them 12 months ago, Presby kicks off the weekend by facing a Valpo enemy who has had nearly two weeks off since a Chicago tournament where they went 2-2.
- Big East members Butler and DePaul both got the better of Valpo by four and two runs respectively, although they were able to drastically turn things around with a 12-1 whipping over Green Bay and a 7-2 win against Detroit Mercy.
- Mike Armitage was hired as Valparaiso’s newest head coach in the offseason, already the third team to visit Clinton this season with a first-year director (along with Northern Kentucky and Maine). He is tasked with rebuilding a team that slumped to a record of 9-40 a year ago.
SCOUTING MONMOUTH
- Speaking of slumping, that’s exactly what Monmouth has been doing in 2025 thanks to an ugly 0-10 mark at this point. The Hawks also have a first-time head coach at their disposal – former UMass assistant Morgan Royer – and have lost six games via run rule.
- Yet to score more than four runs over the course of two tourneys, Monmouth has fallen to the likes of Akron, Bowling Green, UNLV, Idaho State, and Big South rep USC Upstate. They’ve dropped those 10 by an average of seven runs per game.
- Saturday will be the second-ever encounter between Presbyterian and their New Jersey opponent, with the first happening in 2020. The Hawks are in the midst of a 23-game streak of only road/neutral games to begin the campaign.
SCOUTING CLEVELAND STATE
- After claiming a 7-1 triumph over Radford in game number two at a neutral site in Florida, Cleveland State has faltered to a seven-game losing streak going into this weekend. Head coach Amy Kyler – in her seventh season with the Vikings – brought CSU a Horizon League Tournament championship last May.
- Cleveland State went 4-1 in the conference bracket to earn an automatic bid to the field of 64, taking down Northern Kentucky to get there in a 6-1 decision. After advancing to the NCAA tourney, the Vikings were hammered by Oklahoma and Boston University to finish the slate at 22-26.
- PC has never slipped in four prior games with CSU, blasting them twice in 2023 at an East Carolina tournament by respective scores of 13-2 and 11-6. During Cleveland State’s seven-game losing skid, they’ve been outscored by a grand total of 50-6.
SCOUTING MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE
- UMES travels to the Palmetto State with the smallest body of work among the four visitors, labeled at 1-3 in the early stages of the season. Sitting out the first weekend, they were beaten thrice by Grambling State, Prairie View A&M, and Alabama A&M before getting into the win column with a 7-6 walk-off over Claflin.
- The Hawks earned that W with a line drive double to shortstop in the final moments, hoping to turn things around after an 11-35 record in 2024. Head coach Aaron Robinson is in year two with the MEAC institution, picked to finish sixth in the division.
- Both past meetings between the Blue Hose and UMES came before coach Williams arrived in Clinton, a 12-2 run-rule in 2015 and a 4-2 tally two years later that each favored the Scotsmen.
LAST TIME OUT
- Presbyterian was unblemished last weekend in three outings against ETSU and Maine, winning by an added margin of four runs to move two games over .500.
- Junior pitcher Peyton Duncan was sensational as she struck out 12 batters in less than 24 hours, throwing back-to-back complete games and allowing only two earned runs over the whole weekend.
- Spartanburg-native Blair Darby was the offensive hero in a 3-2 victory over the Black Bears last Saturday, crunching a two-run single in the bottom of the 6th that was enough to lift PC to their fourth consecutive win.
- Baxleigh Arnette was selected as the Big South Freshman of the Week on Tuesday after going six-for-nine in those three contests, the seventh player in the Williams era to win the award and third player in as many years.
- Sophomore Kasey Wolfe and senior Mallory Fletcher have added up for 20 hits in eight appearances thus far, totaling five doubles and 10 RBI with a .455 average between them.
