CHARLOTTE, NC— Winthrop softball finished up the regular season Sunday afternoon with a double-header loss at Charlotte as it lost two close games, 2-1 and 4-2.
The losses drop the Eagles to 15-34 on the year while Charlotte improves to 28-22.
“Those were two pretty good ball games,” said Winthrop head coach Mark Cooke. “It was an opportunity to get better heading into the tournament and I thought we did today. We hit the ball pretty well and made some good plays defensively.”
Charlotte took a 2-1 lead in the third inning when Tenaya Tucker hit a two-run homer to left field. Kendra McCall reached first with one out after being hit by Natalie Becker. Then Tucker stepped up and hit her 12th home run of the season.
The Eagles scored in the top of the first when Ashleigh Jackson singled to left field with Megan Chapman at second base. Chapman reached on a single and crossed the plate on an error by Briana Gwaltney as she made an errant throw that allowed Chapman to score.
Winthrop had a runner in scoring position as McKenzie Corn, who reached on an error, made it to third after she tagged up on a fly out by Jenna Harbin. Jackson was hit-by-a-pitch to put runners at the corners with two outs, but Kelly Blea ended the inning with a ground out to third.
An inside the park home run off the bat of McCall in the fifth inning made it 3-1 Charlotte. Brittany Stoudemire answered right back with a homer of her own as she pulled one to right with one out to make it a 3-2 Charlotte lead.
In the sixth inning the 49ers got an insurance run with two outs as Whitney Williams singled to center with the bases loaded, which scored Nikki Gayle from third. Becker was able to get the next batter before any more damage was done, but the Eagles were unable get anything going in the seventh and suffered its sixth straight loss.
Becker suffered the loss as she falls to 4-11 on the year after allowing four runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Charlotte's Katie Watkins earned the win as the starter after allowing two runs on five hits with a walk and three strikeouts in five and two-third innings. Kalie Lang tossed the final inning and a third allowing no hits and walking one to earn the save.
After Winthrop tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the seventh of game one, the 49ers won the game in the bottom half of the inning on a pinch-hit RBI by Lindsey Holloman. Chelsey Schoenfeldt hit the first batter (Jalisa Rock) of the inning and that was followed by a sacrifice bunt to move the runner over. Carol Buchan then singled to put runners at the corners before Holloman stepped up and drove in the winning run on a grounder to the pitcher.
Charlotte scored first in the third inning as Tucker came through with a two-out RBI single to left field. Williams singled to short with one out and stole second base to get into scoring position. Schoenfeldt then struck out McCall before giving up the single to Tucker.
The Eagles rallied to tie the game in the top of the seventh inning as Blea singled with one out and was replaced on the bases by pinch-runner Paige Hartfield. After Brittany Stoudemire fouled out, Ashleigh Jackson singled to left to put Hartfield in scoring position. Lauren Levin came through with pinch-hit, two-out RBI single to right as Hartfield came around to score. Charlotte's McCall tried to nail Hartfield with a throw to home, but it wasn't in time and Jackson and Levin were able to move over another base and both were in scoring position for Chapman. The senior shortstop walked to load the bases for Teja Durante. However, Durante fouled out to end the threat.
Schoenfeldt falls to 8-15 on the year after a solid pitching performance allowing two runs on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Her counterpart, Katy Hackett, earned the win as she allowed one run on four hits with four walks and five strikeouts.
Winthrop will be back in action on Thursday, May 12 at 12:30 p.m. when it faces two-seeded Liberty on the opening day of the Big South Conference Tournament Presented MUSCO Lighting.
