ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop pounded out 16 runs on 22 hits en route to a double-header sweep of Charlotte, Wednesday afternoon at Terry Field.
The Eagles won the first game 7-0 and game two 9-1 in six innings to improve to 10-10 on the season. With the two losses, Charlotte falls to 8-11.
Winthrop struck quick in game one as Jo-Lynn Smith delivered a two-out single to the left side. After the first two batters grounded out, Stephanie Reid was hit by a pitch. That was followed by back-to-back walks that loaded the bases and Smith came through with the hit.
In the fifth, Winthrop exploded for five runs as Tessa Thomas got things going with one out with a bunt single. Lisa Kingsmore followed with a single to center and Reid followed with a single to right, scoring Thomas. Mallory Hogan singled up the middle to make it 5-0 as Kingsmore and Reid scored. With two outs, Veronica Berrie delivered an RBI single to right center for a 7-0 lead.
Megan Evans, despite a career-high five walks, kept the 49ers bats in check as she allowed just one hit in six innings of work with seven strikeouts. Her bid for a no-hitter was broken up in one out in the sixth inning. Evans is now 4-4 on the season.
In the nightcap, Winthrop jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning again. This time it was a Hogan double to left center that scored Thomas and Reid.
The Eagles added three more runs in the fourth inning as Katie Smith led off with a single to left. Smith moved to second as Pearl Coleshill reached on an error. Thomas singled to right center, scoring Smith and putting the Eagles up 3-0. Coleshill eventually scored on an error as Jaime West tried to pick her off at third after a pitch, but the throw bounced off the glove of Jenny Rumbles and Coleshill came home to make it 4-0. Reid added a sacrifice fly for a 5-0 lead.
In the sixth inning, Winthrop scored four runs to finish the game off with the eight-run rule. Lisa Kingsmore started it off with a single to center. Hogan and Lenny Stoddart also added RBI singles. The game-winning run was scored by Hogan as pinch-hitter Lisa Pressley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Cari Wooldridge started the game on the mound for Winthrop as she allowed one run on 10 hits with one walk and two strikeouts to improve to 5-5. Evans relieved her with the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth inning and shut down Charlotte from there and earned her first career save.
“We got great pitching today,” said head coach Mark Cooke, who is now just one win shy of 600 for his career. “Megan and Cari pitched well. Cari just had some unfortunate bounces that led to infield singles. We had great hitting from a lot of people today and timely hitting for a change.”
Thomas finished with four hits and four runs on the day. Kingsmore also finished with four hits and extended her current hitting streak to 15 games, just one shy of her career-best. Hogan finished with three hits and five RBI as Jo-Lynn Smith also had three hits.
Winthrop will be back in action this Friday as it travels to Marietta, GA for the Buzz Classic as the defending champions. The Eagles won the Buzz Classic in 2007 over Radford in the championship game, 5-0. Winthrop open up against Akron at 11 a.m. on Friday and then face Vermont at 1 p.m.
