MT. PLEASANT, SC—Winthrop softball suffered its second one-run loss in the last three games as it fell 5-4 to Massachusetts, Sunday afternoon on the final day of the Cougar Classic at Patriots Point.

The Eagles are now 5-9 on the year as they will open up their home schedule next Friday when hosts the Adidas Tournament and opens up with Coppin State at 3 p.m. With the win, UMass evens its record at 4-4.

"I thought we played really good, but they hit two balls out of the park and that was the difference in the game," said Winthrop head coach Mark Cooke. "Our pitching and defense have been good over the last three games and this is the scrappy team we thought we'd have. We've opened the season with a very tough three weeks and finally get to play at home next weekend and we're looking forward to that."

All of the runs for UMass came on two swings as they hit a two-run home run off the bat of Tara Klee in the bottom of the first and a three-run shot by Quianna Diaz-Patters in the bottom of the fifth.

Trailing 5-2 heading to the top of the sixth inning, Winthrop battled its way back into the game as the first three batters of the inning reached base. It started with Shayna Covington drawing a lead-off walk and then Madison Templeton reached on an error as Covington moved to second. Paige Haley stepped in and delivered a single that scored Covington and moved Templeton to third. After Zharne Glover struck out, the UMass pitcher Caroline Raymond throw a wild pitch that hit perfectly off the backstop and right back into the hands of the catcher that led to Templeton getting thrown out at home plate. Maddie Antone followed with a walk to put runners at the corners and Kelsey Ritter came through with an RBI single up the middle.

Right after UMass struck with two in the bottom of the first, Leah Young tripled to leadoff the second as she was driven in two batters later on a Haley Zuehlke single. Winthrop tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth when Kristy Noble came through with a two-out pinch-hit single, scoring K.J. Uyeno.

Sutton Watson suffered the loss in the circle for the Eagles as she tossed 5.0 innings allowing five runs on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts and is now 1-3 on the year.

Raymond tossed a complete game allowing four runs on nine hits with seven walks and five strikeouts to improve to 2-3 on the year.

Winthrop stranded a total of 11 base runners in the game. Antone and Young both finished with two hits in the game while Haley extended her streak of reaching base to eight games and has a hit in the last three games.