Shelby Petik's home run in the sixth and RBI single in the seventh proved to be the difference as the Presbyterian College softball team shut-out Charleston Southern in a 2-0 win this afternoon in Charleston, S.C. The victory gives the Blue Hose the series win, after splitting the doubleheader Saturday.
The Blue Hose improve to 16-12 overall and 2-3 in the Big South, while CSU's record drops to 17-18-1, 3-5. PC returns to Clinton Mar. 26, for a single game with Winthrop. First pitch of Wednesday's game is set for 3 p.m.
After two quiet innings without a hit, the Blue Hose led off the third with a single by Hope Rogers. Jordan Ashley followed it up with a base on balls. After Courtney Lawton reached on a fielder's choice that got out Rogers, Jill McLean was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Erin Ruff hit into a fielder's choice with the play being made at home, and Kersten Legacki grounded out to the second baseman as PC stranded three runners to end the stanza with nothing to show for it.
A bit of déjà vu in the top of the fourth as the Blue Hose put runners on all three bases again, this time off of hits from Erin Taylor and Rogers, as well as a walk from Jennifer Marshall and a fielder's choice from Abby Allen. Again, PC was unable to convert the hits to runs, with Lawton ending the inning with a ground-out to second.
CSU put runners in scoring position the first several innings but solid Blue Hose defense kept the Bucs at bay as well, with them stranding as many runners in the first four innings as PC, with six apiece.
The Blue Hose broke the stalemate after Shelby Petik opened the sixth inning with her third home run of the season, this one over the left field wall to give PC the 1-0 lead.
The top of the seventh saw McLean single to center field and advance to third off a Ruff ground-out. Petik came through again two batters later with a RBI single to center that drove in McLean, and PC tool the 2-0 lead. The Bucs went down in order in the bottom of the seventh as PC held on for the two-run win.
Petik paced the team going two-for-four with two RBI, with Taylor ending with two hits as well. Rogers collected the most hits with a perfect three-for-three effort.
Kensley Loudermelk started for PC, throwing 2.1 of shutout softball, giving up just three hits. Katie Brown came in relief to earn the win (4-3). She gave up just two hits and retired the side in the sixth and seventh innings to help the Blue Hose hold on to the win.
Morgan Dowdy earned the loss for CSU (2-5) after going 1.1 innings and giving up a run off three hits. Five different Bucs collected the team's five hits in the game, with Stephanie Sbardella and Georgi Delio earning doubles in their lone hits.
