CLINTON, S.C. – Turning what was a dire situation into a scene of jubilation with one fell swing, senior leftfielder Rebecca Clark lifted the Presbyterian College softball team to a fist-pumping victory over Radford in Wednesday afternoon's series opener, sending a rocket past the fence with two outs and a runner on-base in the bottom of the 9^th inning for a 2-1 resurrection. The miraculous climax granted Clark's unit a fairytale ending to PC's longest league contest over the past eight years.

Hits were consistently hard to come by for both squads in a game mostly dominated by the battle of duplicate surnames in the circle (PC's Jenna Greene vs. Radford's Chloe Greene), two pitchers who took turns mowing down the opposing offense for 12 combined K's at six each. Already Presbyterian's all-time strikeout leader, Greene denied 31 consecutive batters before a hit was finally allowed in extra innings, a feat that hoisted her group to a sixth win by a single score this season.

Snatching that ever-elusive first Big South win of the year, head coach David Williams and co. grabbed their eighth Game 1 triumph in league action over the past 12 months, seemingly on the verge of another tough-to-swallow defeat until Clark brought the house down with her ninth career homer.
 
NOTABLES
- A game involving the Blue Hose hadn't ventured all the way into the 9^th inning since February 6, 2020 in a neutral site encounter versus Butler, a 4-3 win that Greene also had a major imprint on, with Wednesday's result standing as PC's lengthiest duel against a conference foe since 2015 (coincidentally also a Radford W in Clinton). Presbyterian's second extra-inning win of the campaign was again categorized by lockdown defensive play and another performance in a long list of them from Greene that needed to be seen to be believed.

- Tossing upwards of 160 pitches in the nine-chapter marathon, the senior officially moved into second-place all-time in the school record books by piecing together her 47^th personal win since 2020. The North Carolinian would've tallied her third no-hitter and second of this year had it not been for the fact that the scoreboard read all zeroes with seven stanzas completed.

- It would take another two frames until Radford was able to work out their first run that would've ended things had it not been for Morgan Hess' 9^th-inning base hit and Clark's game-flipping swing at the eleventh hour. With the heart-stopping finish, PC published their fourth victory over the Highlanders in their last five attempts, handing Williams his 98^th win as the Blue Hose's conductor.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Silence in the batter's box permeated through almost all of regulation, with just one hit combined once the end of the 7^th arrived that came from the hands of first-baseman Jillian Hewes in her opening sequence. The Greene's added up for 70 batters faced when the smoke cleared, as neither side gave an inch until the meeting had dwindled towards uncharted territory in the 9^th.

- The Blue Hose would strand two runners in three separate innings on Wednesday, including consecutive outs after a double steal that left second and third base un-capitalized in the 8^th, although the scoreless tie was maintained elsewhere on a clutch pitching layout by Greene in the top of the 5^th that kept Radford at bay.

- Occupying all three pads thanks to a couple of walks and the game's lone infield mishap, Greene needed back-to-back outs defensively to maintain the contest's 0-0 status quo. She got just that prescription with a flyball to Clark and a fielder's choice scenario where third-baseman Blair Darby lunged backward to tally the X on the incoming runner.

- The drama reached a fever pitch in the game's latest stage, with the Highlanders nearly grasping victory on an RBI-double to ruin the no-hitter. However, Hess and Clark directed the Blue Hose to a total 180 when that outcome veered closer to the unlikely, not to mention pinch-hitter Ciara Hanson's perfectly-placed sacrifice bunt that put Hess on second prior to the game-winner moments later.
 
UP NEXT
- Rejuvenated after the barnburner tilted in their favor, Presbyterian hopes to keep up the midweek momentum by wrapping up the three-game set on Thursday via a 12:00/2:00 doubleheader. Coach Williams' squad aims to improve on a .750 win percentage when competing in Clinton this year, collecting a 15-5 home record following the Game 1 walk-off.