Box Score

COLUMBIA, SC— Junior Melanie Andrea's two-run single in the fourth provided enough offense for Winthrop as it opened up the 2012 season with a 3-1 victory over Cleveland State, Friday afternoon at the Palmetto Classic on the campus of the University of South Carolina.

Sophomore McKenzi Corn led off the fourth with a single to left and was sacrificed over to second by junior Kathryn Eberlin. A single by junior Chelsey Schoenfeldt through the left side put runners at the corners with one out for Alex White. Freshman Kelsey Ritter pinch-ran for Schoenfeldt at first and stole second base. White then walked to load the bases as Andrea came up. Andrea singled to center, scoring Corn and Ritter for a 2-1 lead. The single by Andrea ended up being the game-winning hit.

Head Coach Mark Cooke said, "This is the Winthrop team I know. We had solid defense, we executed when we needed to on offense and we had a solid pitching performance from Chelsey. I couldn't be happier with the effort from the team today."

Winthrop added an insurance run in the fifth as Eberlin singled to right, scoring Paige Hartfield who pinch-ran for sophomore Natalie Becker. Becker led off the inning with a walk to get things started.

Cleveland State took the lead in the top of the fourth inning with solo home run off the bat of Nena Doran to left. It was just the second hit allowed by Schoenfeldt to that point. Schoenfeldt kept the Cleveland State bats in check until the seventh when back-to-back one-out hits put runners at the corners. At that point, Cooke made a pitching change and Natalie Becker came in to close the door and earn her third career save.

Schoenfeldt tossed 6.1 innings allowing the one run on five hits with no walks and two strikeouts. Schoenfeldt also went 2-for-3 at the plate with two singles.

Cleveland State's Alex Radjen allowed three runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Caila Ferro had two hits for the Vikings.

Winthrop will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 11 as it faces Western Kentucky at 10 a.m. and South Carolina at 3 p.m.