By MONTE DUTTON

Clinton (18-4) picked up a clutch, tense, 4-1, victory in its second Class 2A softball playoff game, basically making the most of about everything in Lancaster against Buford (14-9) on Friday.

Me-Me Smith pitched a tenacious masterpiece after spotting the Yellow Jackets a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. She allowed six hits but never walked a batter, striking out four.

Only the top four batters in the Red Devil order – center fielder Halleigh Luke, left fielder Kamryn Campbell, right fielder Taylor Davis and Smith — hit safely, each with a hit. Luke lashed the game’s only extra-base hit, a double.

In the top of the fourth inning, Campbell and Davis led off with singles, the latter being by a bunt. Smith walked to load the bases. Campbell and Davis scored on Buford’s only error, a ground ball to second base by Sierra Templeton.

Lyla Kuykendall walked. Courtesy runner Carlee Nabors scored on a wild pitch. Templeton scored the game’s final run on a groundout by Micah Snelgrove.

Smith allowed only four baserunners the rest of the way, closing out with a strikeout with two of those runners on base.

The Red Devils return home on Wednesday.

Presbyterian (11-39, 7-12) opened its final home baseball series with a come-from-behind, 6-5, victory over USC Upstate (23-27, 11-11) on Friday evening.

The winning run scored on Layton Hyneman’s sacrifice bunt. Cam Mallo had singled in the tying run.

Nine different Blue Hose batters had a hit apiece, highlighted by James Green’s double, Emory Guilford’s triple and Jonathan Williams’ home run.

Robbie Boykin (3-2) earned the win in relief of Tyrell Williams, who pitched seven strong innings and allowed only one earned run.

Henry Zenor and Maloy Heahney each had two of the Spartan’s seven hits. Andrew Kummer (2-2) took the loss.

The teams play again on Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 1.

PC’s Big South champion men’s golf team plays on May 18-20 in the Bermuda Run (N.C.) Regional.

The Blue Hose are grouped with Virginia, Ole Miss, Pepperdine, Georgia Tech, Southern California, Wake Forest, Mississippi State, Little Rock, North Carolina State, Kentucky, Houston, Richmond and Navy.

Relax. I’ll be back soon. I’m off to Nashville. A longtime sportswriting friend and I are visiting another longtime sportswriting friend. The trip has been in the works for a while. I can’t get out of it. Nor do I want to. This is the closest I’ve been to a leisure trip in more than a decade.

The trip will definitely involve country music, barbecue and a visit to a Civil War battlefield. What I’m looking forward to, more than anything else, is the conversations of the road.

I thought about not even taking my laptop, but I’ll need it to keep up with the home front.

Many thanks to the advertisers who keep wellpilgrim.com going. The site is also supported by reader contributions. If you’re interested, you can make modest monthly payments on my Patreon page or a one-time contribution via Venmo (@DHKSports).

Or, if you’d like to make a contribution by check or cash, my mailing address is: Monte Dutton, P.O. 221, Clinton, S.C.  29325 (hutdut@outlook.com).

It means a lot to me that you enjoy what I write.

Most of my books are available at Amazon. Two of my novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audio versions.