Box Score

LYNCHBURG, VA-- The Winthrop softball team battled back to take the lead in the top of seventh inning but lost the final game of the series after Liberty rallied for a 4-3 win, Saturday afternoon.

The Eagles falls to 13-22 overall and are now 2-5 in the conference. The Flames improved to 9-19 on the year and 3-5 in conference play.

Head Coach Mark Cooke said, “I was pleased we were able to take two of three games from Liberty. We hit the ball well and pitched well today and the whole weekend. This was a knock-down drag out affair the entire game and we fought hard.”

Liberty came out swinging and scored two runs on two hits in the bottom half of the first inning. Jenny Law got things going with a one out single up the middle. Kaylee West moved Law to second base with a ground ball to first. Law scored on a homerun to center field by Meredith Crisante to put the Flames in the lead 2-0.  

The Eagles missed an opportunity to answer back in the top of second inning. Alex White led off with a single through the right side. Kristy Noble came up next and reached on an error by the pitcher to put runners on first and second base with no outs in the inning. Kelly Blea put down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third base for Megan Chapman and Teja Durante. Chapman struck out swinging and Durante popped up to the shortstop to end the inning for the Eagles, stranding White and Noble in scoring position.

Winthrop got the clutch hit it needed to score its first run in the top of the fourth inning. Noble reached first by getting hit by the pitch with one out. She advanced to second base on a wild pitch from the pitcher and advanced to third base on a throwing error by the catcher. She scored on a clutch sacrifice fly ball to right field from Blea making the score 2-1, with the Flames still in the lead.

The Flames had the opportunity to add insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning but Becker was able to get out of the jam with some help from her defense. Pinch-hitter Katie Zavodny reached first base on a bunt to Blea behind the plate. She advanced to third on single up the middle by Law. Law advanced to second base on a fly ball to left field to put runners on second and third base with one out for Crisante, who already had a home run in the game. Becker intentionally walked her to load the bases for Hanna Nichols. Nichols hit a line drive to Chapman at shortstop and Chapman was able to catch Zavodny off third base for the third out of the inning.

Winthrop capitalized on getting out of the bases loaded jam and scored two runs in the top of seventh inning to take the lead. Pinch hitter Taylor Wright got the offense going with a one out single to the pitcher. Kelsey Ritter came in to run for Wright and advanced to third on a double from Durante. Mckenzi Corn drew a walk to load the bases for Kathryn Eberlin who came through with a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Ritter. Schoenfeldt, the Eagles' RBI leader, singled to center field to score Durante to put the Eagles in the lead 3-2.

Down to their last three outs of the game, the Flames fought back and ended up with a two-run walk-off single by Law. Megan Robinson led off the seventh with a single up the middle. She advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Bridgett Woods. Kelby Allen singled to third base to put runners on first and second with one out. Becker struck out the next batter, Kelly Strickland, to put the Eagles one out away from winning the game. Jill Stephens came in to pinch hit for Zavodny and singled through the right side to load the bases for Law. Law came through with a game winning single to center field that scored Robinson and pinch runner Marybeth Sciolino.

The Eagles scored three runs on six hits and had no defensive errors. Winthrop didn't commit a single error in the series. Becker pitched the complete game and only had two walks and recorded five strikeouts and is now 7-9 on the year. Schoenfeldt had two hits and drove in her twenty third RBI of the season.

The Winthrop softball team will travel to Buies Creek, NC Wednesday afternoon to complete its three-game series with Campbell. The double-header is set to start at 4 p.m.