The Presbyterian College softball team used home runs by Megan Anderson, Kersten Legacki and Kylie Young, as well as solid pitching from Katie Brown and Hannah Dekle, to take two wins in the finale of the USC Upstate tournament in Spartanburg, S.C. The Blue Hose beat SIU Edwardsville, 2-1, before taking the 5-1 win over Elon.
PC improved to 9-8 on the year and plays at home for the first time this season with a 3 p.m., game Wednesday, March 9, against S.C. State.
A pitching and defensive duel the first two innings, PC's Blaire Miller collected the game's first hit with a two-out single in the third. That would be it as the next batter grounded out to end the inning.
SIUE picked up two hits in the bottom of the third, the first a one-out single by Haley Adrian. After a sacrifice bunt sent her two second, Jordan LaFave laced a double to right to bring in the game's first run.
The Blue Hose responded in the top of the fourth with Jenna Harris opening the inning by reaching first on an error. Anderson, who led the team with one hit and two RBI, would bring her home with her fourth home run of the season, this one a shot to left to put PC up 2-1.
SIUE threatened in the bottom of the fourth but two great defensive stops, including a running catch by Erin Ruff in foul territory and a diving catch by Harris in center, kept the Cougars from getting on base.
Whitney Lanphier hit a single up the middle with one out in the fifth, with Talisa Morton advancing to first off a walk an out later. Katie Brown came through with a strikeout to LaFave to end the threat.
SIUE went three up, three down in the bottom of the sixth, in part to another great play in the outfield, this time by Anderson who saved a hit with a nice running catch to end the inning.
SIUE got a runner on base in the bottom of the seventh with one out but the next batter grounded out into a double play that saw Kylie Young catch a pop up and sling the ball to first to end the game.
PC finished with three hit, with SIUE posting four and one error. Brown (4-3) earned the win for PC, giving up just one run off four hits. Ashley Koziol took the loss (2-6) after surrendering two runs off three hits in 3.0 innings. Baylee Douglass came in relief for Koziol and struck out seven in 4.0 innings.
Madison Longanecker opened game two, against Elon, with a single to left. After reaching second off a sacrifice bunt, she took second off a Ruff single. Anderson provided fireworks again, this time with a long single that brought in both runners to make it 2-0. Legacki took the next pitch over the left field wall and PC suddenly led 4-0.
Young took the Elon pitcher deep again with a solo home run to left, the first of her career, to help the Blue Hose take the 5-0 lead heading to the bottom of the first.
A PC error early in the bottom of the first put a runner in scoring position for Elon with two outs. Foddrell made PC pay with a single up the middle to drive in the first run for the Phoenix. The next batter grounded out to end the inning, with PC holding the 5-1 lead.
PC threatened with runner in the second and fourth but were unable to plate any, while Elon had its chances as well over the next couple of innings but solid defense and pitching kept the Blue Hose with the 5-1 lead headed to the seventh.
Back to back to back singles by Harris, Ruff and Anderson loaded the bases for PC in the seventh with one out but a pop up and a double-play ended the potential insurance runs. In the bottom of the seventh, PC retired the side in order to get its second win in a row.
Dekle earned her first career win in her first appearance, going 7.0 innings and giving up just one run off five hits with no walks. Abby Barker took the loss for Elon, going 0.1 inning and giving up five runs off five hits.
Anderson led PC with three hits and two RBI. Young picked up two RBI off one hit. Longanecker and Ruff collected two hits apiece as well. PC finished with 11 hits and one error. Elon had five different players earn a hit.
