CLINTON, S.C. – Pulling back the curtain on the 2023 campaign for a performance befitting of the team's tremendous preseason hype, the Presbyterian College softball squad handled their business in a rather effortless manner in front of a brand-new facility upgrade in Clinton, producing back-to-back shutouts on Friday afternoon (5-0 over Toledo and 7-0 against Bellarmine) to wrap up the first day of the Pinnacle Blue Hose Invitational with feverish gusto.

Touching home plate 12 times while limiting both the Rockets and Knights to just 10 hits put together, Presbyterian flexed their muscles on numerous occasions throughout the season-starter, most impressively firing off four home runs, four doubles, 22 strikeouts, and a whopping 10 stolen bases overall.
 
NOTABLES
- Lath Freeman – a senior catcher who significantly revved up her offensive repertoire last spring – made a jumbo statement on Friday to begin her final year of eligibility, clearing the fence twice against Toledo beside a trio of RBI and an additional walk. Her two-homer outburst registered as the third time in her flourishing career posting more than one longball in a single outing.

- PC's offensive consistency may grab most of the headlines from Friday's knockout performance, however the senior/sophomore combo of Jenna Greene and Morgan Hess proved equally assertive in the circle. The preseason Big South Pitcher of the Year, Greene showed the audience why that lofty title was warranted by retiring eight opponents in the five-run victory against Toledo, walking only one of 27 batters faced.

- One of the most electrifying sophomores in all of mid-major softball, Hess turned in a beastly balancing act of offensive and defensive mastery during the team's second W of the day over Bellarmine, not content with her 17^th career home run that scored a pair in the first frame. The Virginia native went on to retire 14 batters – two better than her previous personal best – on over 140 pitches, mirroring Greene with only one walk and zero runs allowed.

- Only fitting that it took a grand total of two games for the Blue Hose to make an imprint on the school record books, senior shortstop Layna Johnson ended the second half of Friday's DH with the second-most stolen bases in a single outing (four) since the program joined the NCAA's D-I ranks 15 years ago.
 
Game 1 – PC (1-0) def. Toledo (1-1), 5-0
- Minus Freeman's exceptional outing – responsible for the Blue Hose's first three runs of the day on the aforementioned home run repeat – Presbyterian found four other hits during what looked as if may have evolved into a pitchers' dual had PC's stupendous depth not gotten the better of Rockets' starting hurler Erin Hunt. One of three RBI on the day from Hess in the bottom of the 6^th, the second-year star wrangled in first-baseman Kendall Owens to increase the advantage to a quartet (with one more insurance score to come).

- Two batters later, true freshman Morgan Farthing – one of the few to one-up the otherwise solid job by Hunt – made her collegiate debut a memorable one, scoring Hess on a laser down the middle for her second hit in three tries.

- After four straight innings of silence following Freeman's two-run bomb that also brought home Kaitlyn Tucker in the 1^st, PC's three-run spurt near the game's close was also started by the veteran catcher when she swung her second of the afternoon into orbit, helping the Blue Hose leave no doubt to their fourth season-opening victory out of the past five campaigns.

- Thanks to Greene's dominant performance in the circle – the 13^th time in the last 12 months that the senior has gone the full distance – PC's go-to pitcher has picked up 39 total victories since 2020, forcing the Rockets into six runners left stranded whenever the rare occasion arose that Greene didn't record one of her eight K's.
 
Game 2 – PC (2-0) def. Bellarmine (0-2), 7-0
- Keeping the theme of stifling D alive and well throughout the second contest, Hess' complete game entailed a near-70% strikeout rate, canning the leadoff hitter four times while going for at least one K in all seven innings.

- The first of Johnson's stolen-base ensemble coincidentally scored Presbyterian their first run of the matchup, preceding Hess' 1^st-period longball that brought Freeman home for the third time on the day. A more consistent attack compared to the mostly-defensive layout of Game 1, PC piled up four extra layers of cushion in the ensuing three frames to again put the battle out of arms' length.

- Third-baseman Kelby Goodrum continued the garnet side's home run party with the third blast of her young career (and first against a nonconference foe) in the bottom of the 2^nd in solo variety, paving the way for Hess, Owens, and freshman Gracie DeCuir to land the final blows of the contest and add up PC's overall score differential on day one of the season to 12-0.

- An RBI-double by senior leftfielder Rebecca Clark capped off Presbyterian's exquisite showing that effectively begins a 10-game series of home encounters, gifting head coach David Williams win #80 over his tenure in Clinton.
 
UP NEXT
- The exact same schedule for Saturday awaits the Blue Hose, in that an 11:15 a.m. start against Toledo will serve as a prelude for the ensuing 1:30 date against Bellarmine. Presbyterian hopes for a 4-0 start to the campaign after controlling all facets of both outings on Friday, a record that could be in play for the second time in the past three years.