CHARLESTON, SC— The Winthrop softball team fell to Iowa State 2-0 in the elimination game Saturday evening at the College of Charleston Tournament.
Winthrop (9-8) couldn’t get anything going offensively in the game as Iowa State’s Katie Reichling and Alyssa Ransom combined on a three-hit shutout to advance to the final day of the tournament.
Shahna Ashard allowed one run on two hits in three innings and Jaqueline Trottier allowed one run on four hits in four innings pitched for Winthrop.
The Lady Eagles started off the day with a 5-1 loss to Virginia Tech as the Hokies jumped on Kelli Johnson early with three runs in the first three innings. After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first, Winthrop made it 2-1 in the bottom half of the inning when Janiva Willis scored on a Katie Kipisz single. That was all the runs Winthrop managed, despite collecting nine hits. Willis, Kipisz and Hilary Peacock all finished with two hits a piece.
Winthrop followed up the loss with a 4-3 victory over Iowa State in the second game. The Lady Eagles trailed 3-0 and made it 3-1 in the top half of the fourth inning as Kipisz scored on a Lindsey Merriman single. Iowa State answered right back to make it 4-1 in the bottom half of the inning.
The big inning for Winthrop was the fifth as it took the lead for good with three runs. Kjersti Johnson singled in Stephanie Reid to make it 3-2 and Laura Hill’s double brought Johnson and Lauren Blaser across the plate for the lead.
Ashard started the game, but allowed two runs on five hits in two innings. Kelli Johnson picked up the win by tossing three and two-thirds innings of relief by allowing just one hit and striking out four.
Winthrop will travel to Elon, NC on Tuesday, Mar. 1 to take on Elon at 2 p.m.
