ROCK HILL, SC—Jenna Harbin's single to left in the bottom of the sixth inning provided the winning run as Winthrop rallied for a 4-3 victory over Gardner-Webb, Tuesday evening at Terry Field in Big South Conference softball action.
The victory gives the Eagles a regular season sweep of the Runnin' Bulldogs as they took the double-header in Boiling Springs, NC last week and are now 15-28 overall with a 5-10 league record. Gardner-Webb falls to 11-23 overall and 3-9 in the conference.
Brittany Stoudemire got the offense going in the sixth as she ripped a single up the middle with one out. Veronica Berrie tried to sacrifice Stoudemire to second and set up a possible tying run, but ran into the ball in play and was called out. Kelly Blea stepped in and on a 1-2 count, hit a hard chopper toward first base. Gardner-Webb first baseman Morgan Baker tried to dive and scoop the ball up, but it hit her glove and moved away from the second baseman that was backing her up so Blea reached safely and Stoudemire moved to second. Courtney Gaddy came in to run for Stoudemire at second and scored on the next pitch as Ashleigh Jackson squeezed a single through the right side to tie the game. With runners at the corners and two outs, Harbin stepped up and guided a soft single to left field to score Blea easily from third for the 4-3 lead.
“When you have a young team like we have you have growing pains and we have had them all year,” said Winthrop head coach Mark Cooke. “This was a good day as they picked the pitcher up. That's just a maturity factor right there. We have to learn how to do that more often. What we haven't been able to do is come from behind and we did tonight. That was a needed win in the conference for us as we head to Radford on a high note.”
Chelsey Schoenfeldt finished the seventh with a 1-2-3 inning for her ninth complete game of the season as she allowed three runs (one earned) on seven hits with a walk and four strikeouts and is now 8-10 on the year.
The Eagles took the lead in the bottom of the first inning as Kathryn Eberlin scored on a throwing error and Berrie made it 2-0 on a single up the middle that scored Schoenfeldt.
Gardner-Webb came right back to tie the game in the top of the second as two throwing errors with two outs led to a tie game. Kelsey Witter reached on a single with one out and the second out came on a Rachel Jablonksi sacrifice as Witter moved over to second. Schoenfeldt got Dulkowski to ground out to short for what looked to be the final out, but Megan Chapman's throw was low and skipped by first base allowing Witter to come around and score. Samantha Meenaghan hit a grounder to second, but Stoudemire's throw was too hot and high for Eberlin to handle at first. Meenaghan took off for second and the Eagles threw the ball toward second to try and nail her, but the throw wasn't in time and Dulkowski slipped all the way around the bases and scored on the throw to second.
The Runnin' Bulldogs led off the fifth with a Meenaghan single to the shortstop as she beat out the throw on a high chopper. Schoenfeldt struck out Jordyn Arrowood for the first out and then Meenaghan stole second. Schoenfeldt then struck out Baker looking for out number two before Mckenzie Morenus came through with a single to left field and Meenaghan just beat the throw home for a 3-2 lead.
Cindy Boomhower tossed five and two-third innings allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits with four walks and three strikeouts as she falls to 4-13 on the year.
Schoenfeldt's hitting streak ended at 16 games, despite hitting a hard line drive in her third at-bat that ended up right at the center fielder for the out in the bottom of the sixth. However, Schoenfeldt has reached base in 19 straight games.
Morenus ended up with two hits and an RBI for Gardner-Webb as five other players had one hit each.
Winthrop will head to Radford this weekend for a three-game series that will start Friday, April 22 with a double-header at 2 p.m. and the rubber match will be Saturday at 1 p.m. Gardner-Webb heads to N. Charleston, SC to take on Charleston Southern in a three-game series with the double-header on Friday at 2 p.m. and the final game Saturday at 2 p.m.
