ROCK HILL, SC—Leah Young went 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI to lead Winthrop softball to a 4-2 victory over Longwood in its Big South Conference opener, Friday evening at Terry Field.

Young scored what proved to be the game-winning run in the fifth inning as the Eagles took a 3-0 lead when she came home from third base on a single through the left side by Sara Allen on a 3-2 pitch.

The win pushed the Eagles to 12-14 overall and 1-0 in the Big South while Longwood falls to 8-15 overall and 2-2 in the Big South. The two teams will wrap-up the series on Saturday with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. The first game of the doubleheader will air on ESPN3 with the second game being streamed on the Big South Network.

"That was a good way to start the conference off," said Winthrop head coach Mark Cooke. "That's a heck of a good ball club over there. Without our starting shortstop Maddie Antone, Haley Zuehlke really filled in and did a great job tonight. I thought our pitchers were just spot on. I'm real proud of our team, they played hard. They came back and got two runs on us and we could have gone either way but instead we hit a home run to go up two and that made a difference with the intensity level with this team."

Winthrop grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third as Young drilled a double to right to plate K.J. Uyeno, who walked to lead off the inning. Two batters later with the bases loaded, Allen grounded to short and the throw home got the force out at the plate but the catcher Megan Baltzell tried to get Allen at first but her throw was low and get past first base and Young came around to score.

The Lancers manufactured two runs in the top of the sixth to pull within a run. Justina Augustine led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. After a Baltzell grounded out to second moved Augustine to third, Haleigh Kilby grounded out to short to score Augustine from third. With two outs, Allen walked the next two batters and then the bases were loaded after pinch-hitter Krista Kelly singled off Allen's glove. Cooke made a move to bring in Sutton Watson and on her first pitch was called for an illegal pitch that allowed the runners to move over one base and pinch-runner Elizabeth McCarthy scored on the play. Watson worked her way out of the jam.

"When we changed pitchers Sutton came in and gave them a different look," said Cooke. "That was a bit tougher on them trying to adjust to her and she did a great job finishing the game."

Zuehlke gave the Eagles some insurance in the bottom of the sixth as she belted a home run over the left field fence to lead things off. It was the second straight game Zuehlke has homered.

Watson tossed a perfect seventh to earn her second save of the season. She tossed 1.1 innings allowing no hits with a walk and a strikeout. Allen earned the win and improved to 7-4 on the year after allowing two runs on three hits with five walks and four strikeouts.

Libby Morris suffered the loss in the circle for Longwood with a complete game six innings allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Young moved to third in the batting order in the game due to the absence of Antone and had a good day at the plate. Zuehlke finished with two hits while Paige Haley was 1-for-4 and extended her hitting streak to six games.