ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball suffered a 3-2 loss to South Carolina as the winning run came in the fifth inning on an error, Wednesday night at Terry Field.

The loss drops the Eagles to 11-14 on the year as they will turn their focus to this weekend as they open up Big South Conference play against Longwood starting on Friday, Mar. 20 at 6 p.m. South Carolina improves to 21-9 on the year.

South Carolina's Jordan Bizzell was hit by a pitch to lead off the fifth inning, stole second and then reached third on a wild pitch. That brought Victoria Williams, who ripped a grounder that was snagged by Sara Allen in the circle. Allen double clutched the throw to first as she waited for Leah Young to get to the bag but her throw went past Young allowing Bizzell to score for a 3-2 lead.

"I thought our team played very competitive against a very strong South Carolina team," said Winthrop head coach Mark Cooke. "That's a team that took a series from Tennessee last weekend and we go out and play a one-run ballgame with a chance to tie in the bottom of the seventh. I couldn't be more proud of our kids. This is why we have such a strong out of conference schedule. Our pitching did a really good job."

Winthrop took the lead in the bottom of the second with one out when Haley Zuehlke blasted a first-pitch home run over the center field fence.

The Gamecocks immediately tied the game in the top of the third on an infield single as Bizzell scored from third on the Kaylea Snaer grounder to short.

In the bottom of the third Winthrop took the lead back when Kelsey Ritter's grounder to short with two outs was mishandled by shortstop Krystan White that allowed Paige Haley to score.

The lead was short lived as Williams hit a first-pitch home run down the left field line with one out in the top of the fourth.

Senior Sutton Watson started the game as she allowed two runs on seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts in 3.1 innings. Allen tossed 3.2 innings of relief allowing one unearned run on one hit with two walks and two strikeouts as she falls to 6-5 on the year.

South Carolina's Nickie Blue improved to 12-4 on the year as she tossed a complete game allowing two runs on five hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.

Haley finished the game 2-for-4 with a run while Maddie Antone, Zuehlke and Christine DeWitt each had one hit. Haley extended her hitting streak to five games.