Charleston Southern University’s softball team secured its first win of the 2026 season with a 5-4 victory over Marist in extra innings on Sunday. The win came at the end of their season-opening weekend tournament, which also included a loss to Siena earlier in the day.
In the game against Siena, both teams scored in each of the first three innings, tying at two runs apiece. Siena then pulled ahead by adding two runs each in the fourth and sixth innings, finishing with a 6-2 win. Kinsey Clopton started as pitcher for Charleston Southern, recording five strikeouts and allowing three earned runs over five innings. Brenna Conley pitched the final two innings and gave up one earned run with two strikeouts.
Offensively, Blakely Kingsmore and Jordyn Dimond each had two hits and successful stolen bases for Charleston Southern. All seven of their hits were singles. Carsten Sandvig was responsible for all of the team’s RBIs, with Kingsmore scoring both times.
Against Marist, Charleston Southern faced an early deficit after Marist scored three runs in the first inning. Camryn Martin responded with an RBI fielder’s choice that brought Kingsmore home in the bottom half of the inning. In the second inning, Emma Villaescusa hit a sacrifice fly to score Linley Jones, narrowing Marist’s lead to 3-2. After Marist added another run with a solo home run in the fifth inning, Dimond doubled to score Kingsmore and cut the deficit to one.
Emma Smith tied the game in the seventh with a triple that again brought Kingsmore across home plate, sending it into extra innings. In the eighth inning, Addison Waring scored from second base on a fielding error by Marist to secure Charleston Southern’s victory.
Riley Lauffer pitched all eight innings for Charleston Southern against Marist, striking out eight batters while allowing four runs on four hits and four walks.
Kingsmore led her team offensively during this game as well, going three-for-four at bat with three singles and two stolen bases. Dimond, Smith and Sydney Spayd contributed one hit each for a total of six hits.
Charleston Southern will next participate in the Cici’s Pizza Lowcountry Classic from February 13 through February 15. The team is scheduled to play Sacred Heart, UConn, UMass, Penn and Akron during this tournament; all games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
