ATHENS, GA— Winthrop softball dropped its final two games of the Red & Black Showcase as it fell 8-4 to Murray State and 10-2 in five innings to #10/12 Georgia, Sunday afternoon.
The Eagles finish the Red & Black Showcase 3-2 and will be back in action next weekend in Auburn, AL for the Tiger Invitational. Winthrop will open on Friday, Feb. 13 with an 11 a.m. game against Eastern Illinois and 3:30 p.m. contest with Georgia State.
"I thought we battled and we're happy with the way we played hard," said Winthrop head coach
Mark Cooke. "We played scrappy ball and in the first game a few of their hits were just out of reach or off our gloves. Now we're headed home to put most of our team in quarantine as nearly all of them are sick. Unfortunately
Kelsey Ritter couldn't play today and we had to remove a couple of other players in the middle of games. It's going around the entire team so we're going to take a day off and hopefully get healthy for next weekend."
Winthrop opened the day with the 8-4 loss to the Racers (3-2). A five-run fourth was the difference in the first game of the day against the Racers. Winthrop fell behind 3-0 in the third when it turned around and immediately tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth. Murray State wasn't finished as it led off the inning with a single and a double to put runners at second and third.
Sutton Watson was relieved from the circle and
Dallas King came in but the first batter she faced singled to right, scoring both runs. Jocelynn Rodgers, who posted five RBI against the Eagles on Saturday, came through later in the inning with a two-run single to make it 8-3.
Winthrop fell behind 3-0 in the third but
Jessica Roth started the rally with a pinch-hit lead-off walk in the fourth. Two batters later
Paige Haley ripped a one-out double to put runners at second and third. Then with two outs, Watson tried to help her own cause as she ripped a two-run double to left and then
Leah Young followed with a double to center that brought Watson around for the tying run.
Watson took the loss as she falls to 1-1 after allowing five runs on seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts in three innings.
Against the Bulldogs the Eagles fell behind 9-0 after two innings as no matter what
Sara Allen threw the Bulldogs put in play and created runs.
"They got a good scout on Sara (Allen) and were ready for her," said Cook. "Sutton did a really good job against Georgia and got some strikeouts. This was a good learning experience for us this weekend and got deep into our lineup."
Georgia led 10-0 heading into the top of the fourth when Young drew a lead-off walk to spoil Chelsea Wilkinson's perfect game bid. After
Zharne Glover fouled out to the catcher,
Maddie Antone stepped in and spoiled the no-hit bid with a two-run shot to right. It was her second home run of the season and 10
th of her career. The home run for Antone extended her hitting streak to five games this season while Young extended her on-base streak to five games.
In Watson's two innings of relief against the Bulldogs, she allowed one run on three hits with no walks and five strikeouts. Allen took the loss, her first of the season, after allowing eight earned runs on nine hits in two innings.
Wilkinson, a 33-game winner in 2014 for the Bulldogs, improved to 4-0 on the year as she allowed the two runs on one hit with a walk and eight strikeouts in four innings.
