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TUSCALOOOSA, AL— The Winthrop softball team split on day two of the Easton Bama Bash on Saturday as it fell 7-1 to Iowa early in the day and bounced back to defeat Western Illinois 6-1.

The Eagles are now 4-6 on the year while Iowa is 9-5 and Western Illinois falls to 2-4.

After falling behind in the first inning for the second time on the day, Winthrop posted three runs in the bottom of the second. It started with one out as Alex White walked, but then Kim Ryder struck out for the second out of the inning. Jenna Harbin and Brooke Tracy drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for lead-off batter Teja Durante. The senior centerfielder delivered with a bases clearing triple to left center, which tied her career high of three RBI in a single-game.

"Another great pitching performance against from Sutton," said Winthrop head coach Mark Cooke. "We got runners in scoring position against Western Illinois and came through with timely hits. We showed composure after falling behind in the first inning. I like how this team is becoming a scrappy team. The competition is really strong down here and I feel like we're getting better."

The Eagles added a fourth run in the third inning as Chelsey Schoenfeldt tripled to right center with one out. That brought up Kathryn Eberlin, but before she had an opportunity to drive in the run, Schoenfeldt scored on a wild pitch.

In the bottom of the fifth inning the Eagles had a great opportunity to add to their lead with some insurance runs as they loaded the bases with no outs. However, Western Illinois escaped with no runs as the pitcher was able to get two grounders that led to throws home and McKenzi Corn and Schoenfeldt were both out on a the force at the plate. Then Christine DeWitt grounded to third to end the inning in a pinch-hitting appearance.

The insurance runs came in the sixth as Corn provided an RBI double down the left field line that scored Brooke Tracy and then Schoenfeldt delivered with a single up the middle to score Corn from second.

Sutton Watson improved to 4-1 on the year as she tossed a complete game, her fifth of the season. She scattered nine hits allowing one run with two walks and three strikeouts.  

Sammy Marshall led off the game with a double to left field and moved to third on a ground out to the pitcher by Briana Williams. Lia Romeo drove in Marshall as she singled to third base.

Watson got out of a big jam in the fifth inning when the Leathernecks had bases loaded with one out. Monica Rondon led off with a walk and moved to second on a Teagan Walsh single to center. After Watson forced Megg Kelly to pop out to the catcher, she plunked Alex Pflieger to load the bases. Watson got out of the jam with a line-out double-play. Emma Jarrell lined to third base and Alex White snagged the shot off the bat and then stepped on third base as Rondon was too far down the line to end the inning.  

Winthrop dropped the first game of the day 7-1 to Iowa as it fell behind 2-0 in the bottom of the first and never recovered. The game opened up to a 6-0 in the fourth inning as the Hawkeyes tacked on three more runs without getting a base hit and with two outs.

The lone run of the game for the Eagles came in the sixth inning as junior Alex White doubled down the left field line with one away, scoring Schoenfeldt after she had reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to second after Eberlin walked.

The Eagles outhit the Hawkeyes 7-5, but left nine runners stranded while Iowa took advantage of the Eagles miscues and only left three on base. Schoenfeldt suffered the loss as she allowed three earned runs on three hits with a walk in three innings. Corn finished the game with three hits while White had two.

Iowa's Micaela Whitney tossed seven innings allowing one run on one hit with three walks and six strikeouts to improve to 2-0 on the year.

Winthrop will wrap-up the tournament on Sunday when it faces top-ranked and host Alabama at 2:30 p.m.