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 2^nd versus the Rockets and a double in the next game's 4^th 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 1^st 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 3^rd 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 5^th 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.

-  As freshman pinch-runner Jenna Borkey occupied third base following a steal and error-assisted advancement, junior Bailey Watkins turned in her first RBI of the young season in the bottom of the 5^th that hoisted the deficit to a trio. The aforementioned Hess homer (part of a 3-for-3 outing by the second-year star) brought the game to its final resting place, giving the hurler/rightfielder/designated player her team-high sixth hit in two days.
 
UP NEXT
- Utterly dominating the three-team tournament while proving to the Big South why their 2^nd-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.