CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Leading USC Upstate softball to an undefeated weekend, junior catcher/designated player Peyton Darnell slugged her way to Big South Player of the Week honors after exiting the opening weekend of the season leading the NCAA in home runs and runs batted in.
 
For the weekend, she hit four homers and drove in nine runs, posting a 1.375 slugging percentage as five of her nine hits went for extra bases. She tallied a pair of two-homer games, doing so against Massachusetts in a 10-2 run-rule victory Friday and Sunday versus Towson in a 13-6 win.
 
Sunday's game against Towson also saw Darnell set an Upstate Division I era (2007-pres.) record with seven RBI, racking up a two-run double, a two-run homer, and a three-run homer as all three of her hits in the game went for extra bases. With her two two-homer games, she joins Oklahoma's Tiare Jennings as the lone D1 player with multiple multi-homer games this season.
 
She wrapped the weekend leading the country in home runs and RBI, ranking second in the NCAA total bases (22), fifth in slugging percentage (1.375), and 14^th in hits (nine) with each total leading to her and the program's first Big South Player of the Week honor since March 22, 2021.
 
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