FLORENCE – The Lander softball team begin the Peach Belt Conference portion of the schedule with a Peach Belt Conference doubleheader loss to Francis Marion at the FMU Softball Stadium. The Patriots won the first game, 2-1, in eight innings, before blanking Lander 6-0 in the second game.

FMU improves to 16-4 overall and 2-0 in the PBC, while Lander falls to 7-13, (0-2).

In the first game, FMU's Sydney Holland (8-3) earned the win after striking out seven, walking one and allowing one earned run on six hits in eight innings.

Lander's McKenzi Ferguson (3-6) took the loss, striking out four, walking one and allowing one unearned run on two hits in 3.2 innings.

Francis Marion took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, but Lander responded in the top of the fifth on an RBI groundout from Brianna Surrento that plated Reychel Webster. 

The score remained knotted until the eighth inning when Taylor Johnson scored on a walk-off double from Brooke Holcomb. 

In the second game, the Patriots' Cristi Pressley earned the win with three strikeouts in seven shutout innings.

Lander's Hannah Newton (2-3) took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits in 2.2 innings.

FMU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second on an RBI single from Johnson and stretched the lead to 3-0 on a pair of homers from Sam Chiudina and Chelsea Welty in the third. An error and a Johnson double brought home two more Patriot runs.

Francis Marion capped the scoring when Mikala Barnhart scored on an error in the sixth.