The Presbyterian College softball team opened the USC Upstate Spartan Tournament Saturday, March, 5, with a close 4-2 loss to Valparaiso and a hard-fought 4-0 loss to USC Upstate. Kelsie Sanchez led the day for PC on offense with three hits and two RBI.
PC drops to 7-8, with Valparaiso moving to 1-11, and USC Upstate to 16-2. The Blue Hose continue tournament action Sunday, March 6, with an 11 a.m., game against SIU Edwardsville and a 1 p.m., contest against Elon.
A quiet game one against Valparaiso for the first four innings, the Blue Hose finally struck with a two-run home run by Sanchez, her fifth of the season.
Valparaiso came back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, off RBI singles from Brenna Boyle and Kaitlyn Ranieri, to tie the game. In the bottom of the seventh they took the 4-2 win off a two-run home run from Taylor Nadler.
Katie Brown came in relief for PC and threw 1.1 innings, surrendering four hits and two earned runs. Pico picked up the win for Valparaiso (1-5), going 2.0 innings and giving up just one hit and no runs.
PC collected five hits and had two errors, while Valparaiso posted nine hits and no errors.
Neither team could get much going in the first three innings of game two between the Blue Hose and USC Upstate, with both pitchers throwing no-hitters. That changed in the bottom of the fourth with a RBI double by Ryan Rector that brought home Brittany Case, who had led off the inning with a walk. After a PC error brought in another run, Kori Wancheck's RBI double brought in the third USC Upstate run to make it 3-0.
Amy Szmanowski added the fourth and final run with a solo home run in the sixth.
PC finished with two hits in game two, with Erin Ruff and Sanchez each recording singles. Six different Spartans recorded a hit apiece.
Brown (3-3) took the loss, giving up four earned runs off six hits with three strikeouts. Holly McKinnon went 7.0 innings for USC Upstate in the win (9-1), giving up just two hits while striking out 10.
