ROCK HILL, SC— A bloop single to right center fell right in front of three Eagle players and allowed Jane Save to score from third with two outs for a walk-off hit as sixth-seeded Gardner-Webb rallied for a 2-1 win over Winthrop, Thursday evening at the Big South Conference Softball Championship presented by Musco Lightning. The loss pushes the Eagles into an elimination game against Liberty Friday morning at 10 a.m.
Savage doubled to right center with one out and moved over to third base on a single by Rachel Jablonski down the right field line. Chesley Schoenfeldt forced Michelle Primm into a soft ground out back to the pitcher for out number two before Melinda Dulkowski hit a flare to right center that just bounced before hitting off the glove of Veronica Berrie charging from center. The ball fell in between Berrie, Teja Durante and Brittany Stoudemire all giving chase.
“They hit the ball in critical positions and we were not able to do so,” said Winthrop head coach Mark Cooke. “Chelsey threw two great games today and this one was tough to lose but we just couldn't score runs. You have to give credit to Gardner-Webb as it did what it had to do. We had two errors in the bottom of the sixth and Gardner-Webb took advantage of that and tied the game.”
Dulkowski led off the sixth by reaching on an error by Schoenfeldt and then Samantha Meenaghan reached on an error by Alex White at third that put two runners on with no outs. Schoenfeldt did manage to keep the damage to a minimum. The runners were moved over to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Jordyn Arrowood. Then Schoenfeldt got McKenzie Morenus to fly out to center, but it was deep enough to score Dulkowski and tie the game.
Berrie put the Eagles on top 1-0 in the first inning as her single looped over the infield into left as Megan Chapman came around to score from second. Chapman walked to lead off the game and moved to second on an infield single by Durante.
In the top of the sixth inning, Winthrop came within a couple of feet from going up 3-0 after Kelly Blea ripped a deep shot to that just went foul as it cleared the fence.
Schoenfeld took the loss and is now 9-16 on the year after she allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits with a walk and three strikeouts in six and two-thirds.
Cindy Boomhower also pitched her second game of the day as she allowed one run on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts in seven innings and improved to 8-14.
Berrie finished with two hits on the day and now has 12 career hits in 12 career Big South Tournament games.
Winthrop will have a rematch against second-seeded Liberty in an elimination game as the two will square off Friday morning at 10 a.m. The winner will move on to face sixth-seeded Gardner-Webb at 12:30 p.m. Friday afternoon.
