Softball Drops Two at Furman – Presbyterian College
Greenville, S.C. – March 20, 2024
Making the short drive down the interstate for a non-conference detour against regular foe Furman, the Presbyterian College softball team was dealt a pair of tough defeats versus a quality in-state combatant. The Paladins downed PC by respective scores of 5-4 and 10-2 on Wednesday night. The Blue Hose bumped up their production in the hits department from Game 1 to Game 2 in the midweek doubleheader while playing 12 innings of errorless softball, although their SC rivals pulled out a 7th-frame walk-off to begin the DH and ended the evening with a sweep.
Standout Performances
Kendall Owens, Kasey Wolfe, and reigning Big South Player of the Week Kelby Goodrum all found a two-hit rate in either meeting, now at 10-20 on the season after claiming two out of three last weekend in the league opener opposite Winthrop.
Head coach David Williams’ squad returns to Clinton next week in another non-conference two-parter, having the weekend off as a form of extra prep for the Mercer Bears. That sequence will get underway at 3:00 PM from the site where PC has achieved 25 victories over the last 13 months.
Game One Recap
FURMAN (12-14) def. PRESBYTERIAN (10-19) – 5-4
In a contest where the majority of runs came at the eleventh hour, Presbyterian erased an early 2-0 hole that was established in the 3rd by scratching in the next stanza thanks to Owens’ RBI-single and later a two-run 6th after the Paladins had brought the deficit back to a deuce.
As the Paladins pressed the pressure back to the Blue Hose with a bottom-of-the-6th RBI to enter the last frame up by one, Owens responded with her second of three runs-batted-in for the day that once again deadlocked the affair. However, the home side prevented extra innings from occurring by seeking and finding a walk-off triple.
Game Two Recap
FURMAN (13-14) def. PRESBYTERIAN (10-20) – 10-2
PC went through an uphill battle in the second half of the doubleheader, witnessing five 1st-inning scores from Furman once Wolfe got her crew on the board in just the third at-bat of the contest. The Paladins stayed in front from that point behind Sierra Tufts who went the distance in the mercy rule, able to withstand a Presby score in the 5th (again off of Owens’ hands) to produce four runs themselves thereafter that finished the sweep.
Upcoming Game
Presbyterian will aim for a much more pleasing result on March 26 when Mercer rolls into the Palmetto State, tangling with the Bears for the 4th and 5th times ever and first instance since 2021. Mercer will begin Southern Conference territory before setting their sights on coach Williams’ bunch, hosting Wofford on the heels of a bludgeon over Georgia State in their most recent appearance (16-4, a season-high in runs scored).
