SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Forced to wait until the final series of the campaign to see how things would play out between the projected top two schools in the preseason Big South Conference poll, the Presbyterian College softball team will wrap up the 2023 calendar on Friday and Saturday with a nearby visit to USC Upstate. Winners of 59 games this year between them, the Blue Hose will kick off the Spartanburg set with a 3:00/5:00 doubleheader tomorrow, streamed live on ESPN+.

High levels of drama are expected this weekend between the crosstown rivals, considering one team's desire to remain in the league's top four with a slim advantage and the other's final push to achieve a spot inside said top four. As things stand currently, Presbyterian sits two games back of a postseason ticket at 6-11 in an ultra-competitive conference while the Spartans have assumed a 10-8 mark in divisional action to give them a third-place tag.

A longtime mainstay in the Big South's upper echelon, USC Upstate suffered their first-ever defeat at the hands of PC in Game 3 last spring as head coach David Williams' club gained a 6-4 W in the Clinton finale, the first of what would become 12 consecutive home wins for the Blue Hose over a year-long stretch.
 
GAMEDAY INFO – FRIDAY, MAY 5
GAME 1 – Presbyterian (29-15, 6-11) at USC Upstate (34-15, 10-8) – 3:00 PM
WATCH – ESPN+
LIVE STATS – Sidearm Stats
 
GAME 2 – Presbyterian (29-15, 6-11) at USC Upstate (34-15, 10-8) – 5:00 PM
WATCH – ESPN+
LIVE STATS – Sidearm Stats
 
GAMEDAY INFO – SATURDAY, MAY 6
GAME 1 – Presbyterian (29-15, 6-11) at USC Upstate (34-15, 10-8) – 2:00 PM
WATCH – ESPN+
LIVE STATS – Sidearm Stats
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
- A 24-4 record when competing on their home turf has brought USC Upstate high hopes of another profitable postseason, not quite on the level of last spring's 48-10 final mark although still with a .694 win percentage this year (a number trailing only Campbell for the highest in the conference).

- Head coach Chris Hawkins – nearing three decades as the program's chief while simultaneously the school's associate director of athletics – has assembled over 1,000 career victories under the Spartans' umbrella, the most by any coach at any sport in the institution's history. USC Upstate has posted a 40-win trek seven times over the past decade, although were denied an NCAA Tournament invitation last year after consecutive losses in the Big South bracket to Campbell and Longwood by a combined score of 11-1.

- Grabbing a W in 15 straight meetings to begin the '23 slate on fire, the Spartans have cooled off to a marginal degree in conference territory albeit with five consecutive league wins going into the weekend to bring the confidence back in spades. Upstate downed Gardner-Webb in all three matchups during their most recent series in Boiling Springs, towering 29 collective scores on the Runnin' Bulldogs to go into a two-week rest period with a load of momentum.
 
LAST TIME OUT
- Despite a promising start to the team's last appearance at the PC Softball Complex until next February, the Blue Hose were unable to prevent a pitching clinic from G-W last weekend in consecutive losses by respective scores of 5-1 and 6-2, negating a walk-off Game 1 victory courtesy of Kendall Owens that opened the series.

- In Sunday afternoon's closer – representing Senior Day for Jenna Greene, Lath Freeman, Layna Johnson, and Rebecca Clark – Presbyterian was able to dig deep and secure two runs in the bottom of the 7^th and possibly open the door for more late-game heroics, although the deficit was simply too large to overcame in such short order, finishing PC's home resume at 17-8.

- Coach Williams' crew displays two Big South series wins over the likes of Winthrop and Radford, although a pair of setbacks to both Charleston Southern and Gardner-Webb bring the Blue Hose to a must-win situation this weekend as they claw for what would be a second straight conference tournament submission in a strict format that only allows the division's four most efficient teams. Making things all the more challenging, the league approaches the 2023 season's end as the 11^th-highest ranked division out of 32 nationwide conferences, showcasing the immense depth on hand around the Big South.