CLINTON, SC—The Winthrop softball team dropped its Big South Conference opener as it was swept in a double-header by Presbyterian College, Wednesday afternoon.
Winthrop yielded two runs in the bottom of the sixth in a 3-1 loss in game one and dropped a 4-2 decision in the final game of the double-header.
It's the first time since 2005 that the Lady Eagles dropped a conference opener and they fall to 6-14 overall and are 0-2 in the Big South. PC improves to 11-2-1 overall and 2-0 in the league.
"The difference in the game was they had crucial hits and we did not," said head coach Mark Cooke. " The pitchers both threw the ball very well today. It was our lack of hitting. It's our youth and inexperience and we just have to keep battling through that."
Winthrop allowed two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning in both games, which proved to be the game-winners in each.
In game one, Winthrop got on the board first with a sacrifice fly by Lauren Levin in the top of the fourth inning. Chelsey Schoenfeldt led the inning with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice. She then moved to third base when Kathryn Eberlin singled to right, but not enough to allow Schoenfeldt to score until Levin hit a deep fly ball to center on a 1-2 pitch.
The Blue Hose tied the game in the bottom of the fourth courtesy of a fielding mistake by the Lady Eagle defense. Codee Yeske singled to short with one out and moved to second as Leslie Hensley singled to the pitcher. Brittany Stoudemire made an errant throw on the play and that allowed Yeske to move to third. Amanda Miller followed with a single that squeezed through second and first base, scoring Yeske.
The winning run for PC came in the bottom of the sixth when Morgan Durham scored on a sacrifice bunt by Krysten Handy. The Blue Hose added insurance when Kaitlyn Sambito scored on a double to right by Jennifer Marshall.
Schoenfeldt took the loss for Winthrop as she allowed four runs on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts and is now 1-3.
Just like in game one, Winthrop took the lead first as it scored in the top of the second inning on an RBI double to right field that scored Eberlin. Winthrop went in front 2-0 in the top of the third inning on a double by Schoenfeldt that scored Megan Chapman. Chapman singled with one out and stole second to put herself in scoring position.
PC tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning on a Durham two-run shot to left field. With one out, Yeske singled through the right side and then stole second. Durham then took a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence.
In the bottom of the sixth, it was Marshall that came through for the Blue Hose with a two-run double to left, scoring Durham and Yeske.
Senior Ashleigh Jackson suffered the loss and falls to 2-4 after allowing three runs on seven hits with three walks and five strikeouts in five and two-thirds.
Eberlin extended her hitting streak to six games with recording hits in both of the games on Wednesday as she combined to go 3-for-5.
Winthrop steps away from conference action as it heads to Tampa, FL for the weekend as it will participate in the USF – The Game Tournament hosted by the University of South Florida. Winthrop will open up on Friday, March 18 at 5:30 p.m. against Florida Gulf Coast and then face Quinnipiac at 8 p.m.
