CLINTON, S.C. – Starting off the Big South Conference slate against one of the finest mid-major programs in the country, the Presbyterian College softball team went blow-for-blow against the USC Upstate Spartans on Friday afternoon as they split a doubleheader, dropping the opener (7-2) but rebounding in the second clash via 8-6 decision.

The Blue Hose submitted perhaps their greatest win of the campaign in Game Two after witnessing a late lead dissipate, ending on the right side of a seesaw battle where the lead changed hands four times.

Presbyterian scooped 17 hits off of the best staff ERA in the league, downing the Spartans for the second time in school history and handing star pitcher Maddie Drerup her first loss of 2025 after a 10-0 individual start.

Kendall Owens, Mallory Fletcher, Maddi Wood, and Molly Mattas each had two RBI apiece in the team's 15^th victory of the season, clearing the fence twice and handing SC rival Upstate a rare conference loss as the defending Big South Tournament champs.

Head coach David Williams' group will have a war on their hands in less than 24 hours, engaging in round three at 11:00 AM on Saturday.


 
NOTABLES
 
- Outfielder Morgan Farthing put together one of her best-ever two-game stretches in a Blue Hose uniform, hitting 5-out-of-6 at the plate and scoring four total runs (three in the win). She was responsible for the tie-breaking score in the bottom of the 5^th after a Fletcher double, the senior's 20^th RBI of the year.

- Batting fourth and sixth in the PC order, Owens and Fletcher were a constant issue for Upstate in Game Two. That duo went 4-out-of-7 in the W, while combining for four RBI, two doubles, and a 5^th-inning homer to tie up the tally.

- Called on for relief right after the Spartans had rifled a three-run longball that flipped the momentum at a crucial stage, rookie pitcher Grace Kelley was instrumental in slowing down the Spartanburg visitors. She tossed three scoreless innings as her offense regained control, holding Upstate to just three hits in 12 at-bats.

- Members of PC's catching core, Wood and Mattas both had a sole hit in the Game Two victory, although the magnitude of those swings was enormous in the grand scheme of things: a pair of two-run knocks that helped the Blue Hose keep pace with statistically the best offense in the Big South.


 
GAME ONE – USC UPSTATE def. PC, 7-2
 
- All was well for Presbyterian until a 4^th-inning outburst put the Spartans way ahead, scoring seven in that sequence which was enough for the green and black to coast for the remainder of the game.

- Wood gave the Scotsmen some life at the midway point with a two-RBI single to score Farthing and Emma Yanes (part of four total runs-batted-in over the entire doubleheader for the Clinton native), although the hole was simply too deep to climb out of.

- Sierra Maness threw the entire affair for Upstate, enabling the win despite PC not letting them record a single stolen base from start to finish (Upstate leads all Division I programs with 103 stolen bags this semester).


 
GAME TWO – PC def. USC UPSTATE, 8-6
 
- Neither side gave an inch throughout a dramatic second duel, with the score eventually being tied at two, five, and six at various points.

- Wood became the fifth PC player this season to go for at least two homers as she brought the game to a two-all stalemate, kickstarting a 5-0 Blue Hose run that bled into the 4^th.

- Fletcher and Mattas gave the Scotsmen their largest lead of the afternoon in back-to-back hits that brought home Farthing and pinch-runner Sabrina Rose.

- A three-run edge was disintegrated in the top of the 5^th after starting pitcher Peyton Duncan conceded just her third home run of the year out of nearly 300 at-bats.

- Now with both sides back to an even level, Kelley ensured that the Spartans would not score any more over the rest of the day, entrusting the PC offense to rebuild a lead after falling behind 6-5.

- Owens and Fletcher gladly obliged by producing three extra-base swings in the span of only two innings, granting the Blue Hose their first triumph over Upstate since May of 2022.

- Yanes was singlehandedly the cause of the Spartans' failed 7^th-inning rally, catching the lead runner at second base for out number one and then turning a game-ending double play that put the nail in the proverbial coffin.