DUNCAN, SC – Graduate student right-hander Jenna Walling homered and registered her nation-leading 26th win as top-seeded and 11th-ranked Francis Marion University beat ninth-seeded King University (Tenn.) 11-5, Thursday afternoon (Apr. 23) on the opening day of the 2026 Conference Carolinas Softball Tournament.
 
Francis Marion has won nine straight games and improves to 40-10, its fourth consecutive 40-win campaign.  The Patriots advance to face 12th-seeded Converse University in the second round on Friday at noon.  The tournament is being played at Tyger Park in Duncan, S.C.
 
Walling (26-6), the conference Pitcher of the Year, scattered nine hits and struck out four.  She also registered her 28th complete game of the year, also top in Division II.  She also leads the Patriots with 46 runs batted in this season.
 
At the plate, Walling went 2-for-5 with the home run and three runs driven in.  All-Conference left fielder Anderson Thrower led FMU with three hits, while scoring twice and driving in two runs.  All-Conference designated player McKenzie Jewell also had three hits, including a double, and she had two RBIs.  Sophomore catcher Rylee Gray added two hits, a double, and one run scored.
 
After standing runners on the corners in the top of the first, the Patriots took a 2-0 lead in the bottom half of the opening frame.  Conference Player of the Year Madalyn White and Thrower both walked and a double steal put both runners in scoring position before Jewell lined a two-run double to the left-center field wall.  White finished the day with four runs scored, adding her to program record total (229).
 
In the bottom of the second, Gray led off with a double and was plated by All-Conference center fielder Mikaela Goss with a line-drive single to left.  One batter later, Thrower reached on an infield single and Walling helped her own cause when she laced an 0-2 pitch through the left side for a two-run single and a 5-0 advantage.
 
The Tornado responded with four runs on five hits in the top of the third to trim the margin to 5-4.  However, the Patriots answered back with one run.  Graduate school third baseman Rylie Webster doubled to left field and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt that was misplayed.  She then scored on a fielder's choice grounder by senior second baseman Maddy Golka.
 
Walling hit a one-out solo homer, her eighth of the year, to expand the lead to 7-4 in the fourth.
 
Goss walked to lead off the fifth frame.  White's grounder to second went for a three-base error allowing Goss to score.  Thrower then drove home White for a 9-4 lead with an RBI-single through the right side.
 
King designated player Yuleese Kennedy launched a solo homer in the top of the sixth, but FMU responded with two runs in the bottom half to up the margin to 11-5.  Thrower ripped a two-out RBI-single to right field and White scored a second run on the play when she eluded a Tornado run down.
 
Thrower extended her hitting streak to 14 games, while White extended her streak of safely reaching base to 22 contests.