ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball dropped a doubleheader to Longwood as it fell 4-2 and 8-3, Saturday afternoon at Terry Field.
Winthrop, which won the opening game of the series on Friday, falls to 12-16 on the year and is now 1-2 in the Big South. Longwood takes its second consecutive series to open league play and is now 10-15 overall and 4-2 in the league. Winthrop will be back in action on Friday, Mar. 27 as it opens up a three-game series at Coastal Carolina at 6 p.m. with the doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m.
"I think the difference was our energy level went down and they adjusted to our pitching and ripped 'em," said Winthrop head coach
Mark Cooke, referring to the Lancers eight runs and 17 hits in the second game. "The runs they scored in the sixth inning of the first game just destroyed our energy level and we just never got it back. In the seventh inning (of game two) we got some runners on, they brought their pitcher back in and we got a hit and drove in a run but it was just too little, too late. We just have to recover and regroup for next weekend."
In the first game of the day, Winthrop took a 2-1 lead into the sixth inning when the Lancers scored two for a 3-2 advantage. The rally got started when Megan Baltzell drew a leadoff walk and was moved over to second on a sacrifice. That was followed by a double to right off the bat of Chelsea Sciacca and Baltzell scored from second to tie the game. Two batters later, Haleigh Kilby came through with a two-out pinch-hit single for the 3-2 lead.
The Eagles had an opportunity to tie the game in the bottom half of the sixth as there were runners on second and third with two outs. Cooke went to his bench as
Sutton Watson as a pinch-hitter and on a 3-1 count she ripped a shot down the first base line, but first baseman Kelsey Sweeney reached out and snagged the ball just in foul territory to end the inning.
Junior
Dallas King took the loss in the pitching circle and falls to 1-6 on the year as she returned from injury to toss 5.2 innings allowing three runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
Longwood struck first as Emily Murphy led off the game with a solo home run to left field on a 2-2 pitch. Murphy later added an insurance run for the Lancers in the seventh with her second home run of the game, a solo shot to right center.
Winthrop came right back to tie the game in the bottom of the first when
Kelsey Ritter came through with a two out double to left center, scoring
Leah Young from first base.
Kristy Noble gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth when she hit a solo shot to right center for her second of the season and 18
th of her career.
Libby Morris earned the win in the circle for Longwood as she improved to 4-6 after allowing two runs on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts in seven innings.
Winthrop stranded seven runners in the game as it had runners in scoring position in the first three innings and a total of four.
In the second game, Longwood led 8-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh as the Eagles fought to get back in the game.
Sara Allen ripped a single to lead off the seventh and then
Kim Ryder reached on an error.
K.J. Uyeno stepped up and drilled a double to left, scoring pinch-runner
Christine DeWitt. That was followed by a single to right by
Paige Haley, scoring Ryder. Longwood had replaced Elizabeth McCarthy at the start of the inning and after two Winthrop runs was brought back in.
Zharne Glover was the first batter she faced and Glover singled in Uyeno to cut the deficit to five runs. McCarthy was able to get the next three batters out to end the game.
The top of the second inning is when the Lancers opened the game up with four runs for a 5-0 lead. Glenn Walters hit a two-run home run to right and Baltzell's two-run double to right center highlighted the inning for Longwood.
Watson took the loss in the circle for game two as she allowed three runs on four hits with a walk in one inning to fall to 3-5 on the year.
McCarthy earned the win as she improves to 6-6 after allowing no runs on five hits with three walks and 10 strikeouts in seven innings.
Glover finished with four hits on the day while Noble had three. Ritter and Uyeno each had two. In the series, Glover finished with a team-high five hits while Young had four.
