As preseason preparations wind to a close, the Presbyterian College softball team and fifth-year head coach David Williams await the dawn of a brand-new campaign this weekend, welcoming three visiting schools to the Pinnacle Blue Hose Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Weather permitting, the nine-game tournament (with neutral meetings sprinkled throughout) starts off a 12-day period where PC will remain on their home field, officially anointing new facility upgrades at the season’s first pitch tomorrow.
Barring any interference from Mother Nature, Presbyterian is set to launch the 2023 campaign into orbit on Friday for back-to-back contests against Toledo (12:15) and Bellarmine (2:30). The following afternoon, coach Williams’ squad will take on the Knights for a second time at 4:45, but not before welcoming Maryland Eastern Shore to the mix at 2:30.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
As PC sets their sights on three different opponents within a two-day period, their first obstacle will be Toledo, a club that staggered to a 12-37 record last spring without a postseason invitation thanks to a mere 5-21 Mid-American Conference trek. Interestingly, coach Jessica Bracamonte’s Rockets were more successful last season when competing away from home – grabbing 10 of their 12 wins in road or neutral environments – while serving as the visiting side for their first 21 games in 2023.
Bellarmine – the only foe that will lock horns with PC more than once this weekend – had a similarly-rough journey one year back, winning 10 of their 51 matchups in only their second season as an NCAA Division I member. Able to muster a lone win in ASUN competition (a 3-1 decision over Stetson), the Knights lost their final 15 bouts of 2022 while scoring two or less in 10 of those meetings, prompting a head coaching change during the offseason that landed on Caitlyn de la Haba who spent the previous five years at Lafayette in Pennsylvania.
The third of Presbyterian’s opponents on opening weekend, Maryland Eastern Shore closed last season’s slate with a 13-8 resume inside Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play that complimented an underwhelming record outside the league. The Hawks and head coach Karla Ross saw a growing weakness when playing the visitors’ role, leading to a two-and-done exit in the MEAC Tournament by a combined difference of 12 runs.
RECORD-BREAKING 2022 RECAP
One could nearly write a book on all that the Blue Hose accomplished one year ago, incinerating numerous D-I program records including most overall wins (36) and most Big South victories (19). Finishing just behind a three-way tie for the top spot in a very competitive league, Presbyterian possessed six all-conference performances in 2022, running through a school record 14-game winning streak at one point while making it to the league tourney’s semifinal stage.
Coach Williams’ ’22 group achieved a new single-season high in collective batting average (.297), on-base percentage (.363), slugging percentage (.466), total bases (603), homers (47), runs (235), RBI (227), hits (384), and doubles (70). Additionally, the defensive side of the field was just as imposing, setting new program highs in strikeouts (401) and shutouts (15) on their way to the most successful spring of the century.
Four different PC players landed a spot inside the top five over a single year in virtually every major offensive category, bringing back 11 members of that expectation-shattering unit. Due to Presbyterian’s remarkable depth and high amount of significant returners, a preseason projection of 2nd place by Big South coaches brings the Blue Hose a never-before-seen tower of hype approaching the home-heavy nonconference lineup.
Alongside their all-time best preseason ranking, PC was given another accolade from the league with the announcement of senior Jenna Greene as the Preseason Pitcher of the Year. One of the biggest representatives to Presbyterian’s rapid rise, Greene recorded a 2.05 ERA as a junior next to a .186 opposing batting average, striking out over 200 opponents and holding nine separate teams to zero on the scoreboard.
Clinton will be the location for 17 nonconference games altogether, the first 10 of which will occur from Friday until the 22nd. Seven different schools will witness PC’s facility upgrades firsthand before the Blue Hose hit the road for the first time, firstly focusing on the trio that stands in their way over the next 48 hours.
CLINTON, S.C. – Managing to fend off both an ominous weather forecast and a couple of visitors to complete the program’s second 4-0 start to a season over the past three years, the Presbyterian College softball squad finished off a two-day sweep over both Toledo (3-2) and Bellarmine (4-0) on Saturday afternoon.
- On a chilly and windy day in Clinton, a pair of defensive struggles were elevated by a slew of sublime PC pitching performances, none more impressive than the nine-strikeout, one-walk no-hitter submitted by preseason Big South Pitcher of the Year Jenna Greene in the shutout over Bellarmine. Now at 2-0 personally, the senior has tallied 17 strikeouts in two complete games, limiting the 47 batters she’s faced to an absurd .106 average.
- The Blue Hose and fifth-year head coach David Williams have now outgunned the opposition by a combined clip of 19-2 in the infant stages of the home-heavy nonconference gauntlet, holding the Rockets and Knights to zero on the board over the final 11 innings of play when put together.
NOTABLES
- Not only was Greene mowing down whichever batter dared to challenge her in the second half of Saturday’s doubleheader (the second complete-game no-hitter of the senior’s career and first since March of 2021 in a win over South Carolina State), but the PC offensive gang performed more than well enough to back the veteran’s exceptional effort. Sophomore Morgan Hess – after throwing 14 K’s in yesterday’s triumph over Bellarmine with a homer for extra emphasis – blasted another beyond the fence (again vs. the Knights) for a team-best six hits on the weekend.
- Making her very first collegiate appearance in relief of Hess’ 3.1 frames against Toledo, North Carolinian Peyton Duncan raised plenty of eyebrows by denying four base-runners a chance to round the diamond, pitching to 15 opponents and not letting a tied affair after three innings reach toward any other levels of distress.
- Filling in at first base to positive results across the season-opening W’s less than 24 hours ago, second-year slugger Kendall Owens topped her Friday showing by landing a 4-of-6 hit rate with the bat in her hands (2-of-3 in each bout), drilling a solo bomb in the bottom of the 2nd versus the Rockets and a double in the next game’s 4th frame. The Mercer transfer concludes the weekend with a .556 average in nine at-bats, finding four runs and three extra-base swings.
- Over four winning performances, the Greene/Hess combination in the circle has translated to a phenomenal 1.16 ERA in over 24 innings of work, syncing up for 33 K’s in the Pinnacle Blue Hose Invitational. Three of the four PC wins were settled by a pitcher who went the full distance, finishing off a fantastic defensive sequence with more than enough firepower on the other side of the field to back it up.
Game 1 – PC (3-0) def. Toledo (2-2), 3-2
- Faced with a position not yet encountered this season – not scoring in the 1st and trailing early – Presbyterian made the instance nothing more than a slight inconvenience once Owens flung her first PC home run beyond the right field wall, later answering a Toledo score in the 3rd with an RBI-single from Lath Freeman that brought centerfielder Gracie DeCuir around the bases.
- It wouldn’t be the last time in the contest that the senior catcher lassoed in a blue and white run, scoring leadoff shortstop Layna Johnson in the bottom of the 5th with a sacrifice fly ball that proved to be the difference. No other Blue Hose member has garnered more RBI thus far on the year than Freeman (who went yard twice on Friday), bringing home five runs after compiling 44 RBI in 2022.
Game 2 – PC (4-0) def. Bellarmine (0-4), 4-0
- The second consecutive time blanking the Knights – striking out the visitors from Louisville 23 times altogether in the two meetings against them – PC got all they needed offensively in their last three stanzas, started on a two-RBI rifle from senior Rebecca Clark that effectively snapped a four-inning series of zeroes from both sides.
PC vs. Toledo - PDF: https://gobluehose.com/documents/2023/2/10/PC_5__Toledo_0.pdf
PC vs. Bellarmine - PDF: https://gobluehose.com/documents/2023/2/10/PC_vs._Bellarmine.pdf
CLINTON, S.C. – Pulling back the curtain on the 2023 campaign for a performance befitting of the team’s tremendous preseason hype, the Presbyterian College softball squad handled their business in a rather effortless manner in front of a brand-new facility upgrade in Clinton, producing back-to-back shutouts on Friday afternoon (5-0 over Toledo and 7-0 against Bellarmine) to wrap up the first day of the Pinnacle Blue Hose Invitational with feverish gusto.
Touching home plate 12 times while limiting both the Rockets and Knights to just 10 hits put together, Presbyterian flexed their muscles on numerous occasions throughout the season-starter, most impressively firing off four home runs, four doubles, 22 strikeouts, and a whopping 10 stolen bases overall.
NOTABLES
- Lath Freeman – a senior catcher who significantly revved up her offensive repertoire last spring – made a jumbo statement on Friday to begin her final year of eligibility, clearing the fence twice against Toledo beside a trio of RBI and an additional walk. Her two-homer outburst registered as the third time in her flourishing career posting more than one longball in a single outing.
- PC’s offensive consistency may grab most of the headlines from Friday’s knockout performance, however the senior/sophomore combo of Jenna Greene and Morgan Hess proved equally assertive in the circle. The preseason Big South Pitcher of the Year, Greene showed the audience why that lofty title was warranted by retiring eight opponents in the five-run victory against Toledo, walking only one of 27 batters faced.
- One of the most electrifying sophomores in all of mid-major softball, Hess turned in a beastly balancing act of offensive and defensive mastery during the team’s second W of the day over Bellarmine, not content with her 17th career home run that scored a pair in the first frame. The Virginia native went on to retire 14 batters – two better than her previous personal best – on over 140 pitches, mirroring Greene with only one walk and zero runs allowed.
- Only fitting that it took a grand total of two games for the Blue Hose to make an imprint on the school record books, senior shortstop Layna Johnson ended the second half of Friday’s DH with the second-most stolen bases in a single outing (four) since the program joined the NCAA’s D-I ranks 15 years ago.
Game 1 – PC def. Toledo, 5-0
- Minus Freeman’s exceptional outing – responsible for the Blue Hose’s first three runs of the day on the aforementioned home run repeat – Presbyterian found four other hits during what looked as if may have evolved into a pitchers’ dual had PC’s stupendous depth not gotten the better of Rockets’ starting hurler Erin Hunt. One of three RBI on the day from Hess in the bottom of the 6th, the second-year star wrangled in first-baseman Kendall Owens to increase the advantage to a quartet (with one more insurance score to come).
- Two batters later, true freshman Morgan Farthing – one of the few to one-up the otherwise solid job by Hunt – made her collegiate debut a memorable one, scoring Hess on a laser down the middle for her second hit in three tries.
- After four straight innings of silence following Freeman’s two-run bomb that also brought home Kaitlyn Tucker in the 1st, PC’s three-run spurt near the game’s close was also started by the veteran catcher when she swung her second of the afternoon into orbit, helping the Blue Hose leave no doubt to their fourth season-opening victory out of the past five campaigns.
- Thanks to Greene’s dominant performance in the circle – the 13th time in the last 12 months that the senior has gone the full distance – PC’s go-to pitcher has picked up 39 total victories since 2020, forcing the Rockets into six runners left stranded whenever the rare occasion arose that Greene didn’t record one of her eight K’s.
Game 2 – PC def. Bellarmine, 7-0
- Keeping the theme of stifling D alive and well throughout the second contest, Hess’ complete game entailed a near-70% strikeout rate, canning the leadoff hitter four times while going for at least one K in all seven innings.
- The first of Johnson’s stolen-base ensemble coincidentally scored Presbyterian their first run of the matchup, preceding Hess’ 1st-period longball that brought Freeman home for the third time on the day. A more consistent attack compared to the mostly-defensive layout of Game 1, PC piled up four extra layers of cushion in the ensuing three frames to again put the battle out of arms’ length.
- Third-baseman Kelby Goodrum continued the garnet side’s home run party with the third blast of her young career (and first against a nonconference foe) in the bottom of the 2nd in solo variety, paving the way for Hess, Owens, and freshman Gracie DeCuir to land the final blows of the contest and add up PC’s overall score differential on day one of the season to 12-0.
- An RBI-double by senior leftfielder Rebecca Clark capped off Presbyterian’s exquisite showing that effectively begins a 10-game series of home encounters, gifting head coach David Williams win #80 over his tenure in Clinton.
UP NEXT
- Utterly dominating the three-team tournament while proving to the Big South why their 2nd-place preseason projection was a justified pick, Presbyterian is still only in the first half of a campaign-opening 10-game home stretch that will continue next Friday and Sunday for another multi-team series.
- On February 17, the Blue Hose will do battle with the Pirates of Seton Hall and IUPUI back-to-back, earning a day of rest before returning to the fold two days later for another round against the Jaguars and the sixth all-time meeting with the Appalachian State Mountaineers.
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