Sports gambling has been legal in the United Kingdom for all sports since 1960 and on horse racing for centuries.

Breathes a TV-watching man or woman alive here who doesn’t know it’s been legal in North Carolina since March 11. It’ll probably infest us here in time. Remember when people used to take up a collection and buy lottery tickets every time they went to Georgia?

A gambling enthusiast in the Old North State is apparently able to bet $5 and get $200 in bets for free. I suspect there’s a catch.

I”ve never been much for betting, though I did lose my first bets when I was 11 on the Atlanta Braves against the New York Mets in the first National League Divisional Series. I then proceed to lose double or nothing on the Mets, who upset the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.

If memory serves, I had to fork over $4 to a fifth-grade classmate at Clinton Elementary School, which was in its first year. Over a half century later, I still think of it as ‘the new school.”

Maybe it left a bitter taste. Betting muddies my waters. I like to root for teams I like. I don’t even enter NCAA tournament brackets. I generally just fill out one for fun.

Presbyterian and South Carolina State split a softball doubleheader in Clinton on Wednesday, with the Bulldogs winning the former, 2-1, and the Blue Hose the latter, 6-2.

Kasey Wolfe, who played third base in one game and first in the other, was a combined 4/6 in the twinbill, driving in four runs in the second game with a double and a home run.

Kelby Goodrum led off the first game by reaching on an error by State left fielder Jade Hendrick, then scored immediately on Kaitlyn Tucker’s double.

That was it, but it was not enough.

Freshman catcher – and Laurens native – Kauree Munyan struck out to lead off the Bulldog seventh inning as PC’s Peyton Duncan appeared poised to complete a shutout. Instead, pinchhitter Kaylah Leslie laid down a bunt single, and another pinchhitter, the aptly named Destiny Calloway, homered to give S.C. State a 2-1 lead.

Maya Miller retired the first PC batter in the bottom of the seventh, but Mallory Fletcher singled and advanced to second base on State’s second outfield error of the game. Molly Mattas ran for Fletcher. Aaliyah Williams relieved Miller in the circle and struck out Lanie Ruscoe and Goodrum to end the game.

The Blue Hose opened the nightcap similarly, though it was a walk that got Goodrum started around the bases. She scored on a Kasey Wolfe grounder to short.

The similarities ended there. PC (13-24) tacked on three more runs in the third inning, highlighted by Wolfe’s two-run double to right and Emma Yanes RBI single in the same direction.

The Blue Hose added two more runs on Wolfe’s two-run homer in the fifth.

Clinton native Maddi Wood caught the first game for PC. Munyan caught both for South Carolina State (5-20).

Miller (1-0) was the winning pitcher in the former game, besting PC’s Duncan (3-6), who had a career-best 10 strikeouts. Jenna Greene (6-9) got the decision over SCSU’s Williams (1-3), who saved the first game, in the latter.

Kylie Nelson went 2/3 with a homer for the Bulldogs in game two.

A three-game Big South Series with Charleston Southern (16-17) opens at PC on Friday at 6 p.m. The Hose and Buccaneers play two on Saturday beginning at 1. Both teams are 3-3 in the Big South.

Acrobatics-and-tumbling freshman Kendra Henige was named Honorable Mention Freshman of the Week by the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA).

Henige is the first athlete in the program’s history to win an NCATA weekly award.

The McHenry, Ill., native competed in five heats and the team event in helping the Blue Hose record a home victory over Bluefield State, highlighted by a program record score of 9.325 in the Tumbling Event’s Six-Element Pass. She also was part of Presbyterian’s Compulsory Pyramid team that posted a score of 9.55.

The NCATA consists of 10 schools in NCAA Division I, 34 in Division II, 11 in Division III and one in the NAIA.

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