GREENVILLE, N.C. – Still feeling the flow of yesterday's season-best offensive bombardment to finish out the Jolly Roger Invite hosted by East Carolina, the Presbyterian College softball team repeated their scorching batting numbers in Sunday's opening bout against Cleveland State in an 11-6 shootout before ending the weekend with a near-historic comeback that fell just shy of completion in a 9-8 nail-biter against ECU in hostile territory.

Finishing the school's first-ever trip to the Pirates' venue with their second 1-1 result in as many days against a couple of high-quality participants, the Blue Hose moved their overall record to 19-8 when all was in the bin, spreading the wealth around with eight extra-base swings put together and five home runs – two of which came from sophomore Morgan Hess across back-to-back innings in the edge-of-your-set climax versus ECU.

Led by an otherworldly performance by Layna Johnson with the bat in her hands (6-of-8 at the plate, two scores batted in, a double, a homer, and a ridiculous six runs gained herself), Presbyterian was able to continually punish the Vikings in the day's opening act and did more of the same against East Carolina when their backs were against the wall, totaling 23 hits and 19 runs in a frantic couple of outcomes.
 
NOTABLES
- Senior catcher Lath Freeman and junior first-baseman Jillian Hewes created an unstoppable three-headed hitting monster when added up with Johnson's sizzling output against Cleveland State, going 7-of-10 collectively on three RBI, two longballs, and two walks in the five-run opening W. Johnson published her fourth game in a row with a double in the CSU victory, which occurred after a solo dinger in the game's first at-bat, a feat she also accomplished on Feb. 18 in the very first pitch versus Seton Hall.

- Swinging her way to a 6-of-8 mark in the batter's box across the two-parter, Johnson accounted for the fifth and sixth occasions this year that a PC player went for three hits in a single outing – doing so in both bouts – while matching a career-high with four runs gathered in the scoring showcase against the Vikings, a number she first hit against Longwood one year ago.

- Seemingly every Blue Hose batter erupted at some point during Sunday's series, as the Hess/Freeman/Johnson/Rebecca Clark quartet accounted for PC's five home runs that brought in a total of 10 scores by themselves. Altogether, head coach David Williams' club has accounted for 21 swings that cleared the fence (none more than Hess' 10), seven of which came in the first frame and 11 of which have wrangled in more than one run.

- Known primarily for their stout defense and tremendous pitching IQ, Presbyterian found themselves locked in a pair of duels where the offense overtook every other aspect, more often than not rising to that challenge in two games that tied each other for the title of 2023's highest-scoring contest to involve the Blue Hose (17 runs and 20 hits vs. Cleveland State before 17 runs and 18 hits in the East Carolina thriller).
 
GAME 1 – Presbyterian (19-7) def. Cleveland State (4-20), 11-6
- Threatening to run-rule the Vikings as they did the previous day in a 13-2 shellacking that entailed a season-high 13 connections at the plate, PC was able to stretch the advantage to 6-1 after five and a half innings and 11-3 going into the bottom of the 6^th, scoring their final seven runs of the meeting near its conclusion which turned out to be just enough separation for a scrappy CSU team that attempted a rally.

- Graciously accepting a 4-0 edge with two stanzas down after the Johnson HR and three uninterrupted runs off wild pitches, the Blue Hose kept their foot on the gas pedal with two more moonshots by Freeman and Clark – the first time on the semester that coach Williams' club lined up three home runs in a single outing.

- Second baseman Kaitlyn Tucker and designated player Kendall Owens boosted Presbyterian's game-RBI total to eight on consecutive base hits in the 6^th that put the matchup out of reach for the Horizon League rep despite a three-run belter of their own later that same inning.

- Freshman Peyton Duncan, holding down the starting role for the fourth time, came just one out away from a complete game until Hess relieved in the 7^th, walking only one of 27 batters faced as PC improved to 4-0 all-time against their Ohio foe.

- When taking into account the 13-run tsunami offered up from coach Williams' group yesterday against them, the Blue Hose racked up 24 combined runs and 25 combined hits over the past 24 hours in those specific two games, the six runs allowed on Sunday representing the highest number given up by PC in a victory this year.
 
GAME 2 – East Carolina (20-9) def. Presbyterian (19-8), 9-8
- Following an RBI-single by Owens (her second of the afternoon) in the first inning which signified the sixth time in the past seven dates that Presbyterian has been the ones to strike first, ECU assumed control of the contest for what was apparently leaning towards a comfortable win, that is until a seven-run sprint from the visitors made things extremely interesting in the waning moments.

- Hess' two-shot bomb in the 6^th (a swing that brought pinch-runner Morgan Farthing around the diamond too) cut a seven-run lead down a notch, although a PC fielding mishap in the defensive half of the frame allowed East Carolina the momentum back. Faced with an uphill climb and needing six runs to extend the game, the Blue Hose nearly achieved the unlikely objective on back-to-back run-scoring base hits by Johnson and Freeman that preceded Hess' second homer in as many trips.

- ECU eventually recovered and was ultimately able to tally the game's final out with nobody on-base, able to steal the win in a game where Presbyterian out-hit them by an 11-7 margin. Hess and Jenna Greene shared their time in the circle at three innings each, striking out nine batters and conceding six of the Pirates' nine runs.
 
UP NEXT
- The first of seven Big South weekend series awaits the Blue Hose next Saturday and Sunday in a return to Clinton after two weeks away, welcoming the Longwood Lancers to the PC Softball Complex for two on March 25 and the finale the following afternoon.

- Since becoming league mates, the two sides have met one another 35 times while both carrying high expectations with them into the final series of the month. Longwood scooped up a 6-4 triumph over DePaul at a neutral site in Lexington, Kentucky earlier on Sunday, bringing them to PC at 11-10 overall.

- Saturday's Game 1 is tabbed for a 12:00 p.m. first pitch, broadcasted live via ESPN+.