CONWAY, SC— Winthrop suffered a doubleheader sweep at the hands of Coastal Carolina with losses of 6-0 and 5-0, Saturday afternoon in Big South Conference softball action.
Winthrop has now lost five straight and falls to 12-19 on the year and 1-5 in the Big South. Coastal Carolina improves to 18-15 overall and 6-2 in the Big South. The Eagles will look to end their losing streak on Wednesday, April 1 when they traveling to Boiling Springs, NC for a doubleheader at Gardner-Webb beginning at 4 p.m.
In the second game of the twin bill, the Chanticleers got all the runs they needed in the third inning as Annie Robinson provided a one-out RBI double followed by an RBI single by Kory Hayden. Coastal added three runs in the fourth inning courtesy of a three-run home run by Sara Rasley to left field.
Winthrop had a chance to jump on the Chanticleers in the first inning as
Paige Haley singled with two outs and then stole second, getting into scoring position. But Kelsey Dominik got
Kristy Noble to pop out to second. In the fourth inning, the Eagles missed another opportunity after Haley led off with a double to right. Dominik then got back-to-back ground outs and a strikeout to keep the Eagles off the board.
Dallas King started the game in the circle and suffered the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 3.1 innings.
Sutton Watson relieved King in the fourth and tossed 2.2 innings of no-hit ball with two strikeouts.
Kelsey Dominik held the Eagles to four hits as she tossed a complete game shutout with three walks and six strikeouts to improve to 7-4.
In the first game of the day, Morgan Noad hit two home runs to lead the Chanticleers. Noad hit a led off the second inning with a solo shot to right on a 2-2 pitch. Noad was back up in the third inning with two outs when she hit a two-run shot to left for a 3-0 lead. She also added an RBI single in the fifth for her fourth RBI on the day.
Kiana Quloas helped her own cause in the fifth inning with an RBI single to right after Briana Chiusano led off the inning with a walk. Chiusano stole second and moved to third on a throwing error from
Paige Haley before scoring on the single by Quolas.
Winthrop had a runner on in each of the first four innings but couldn't get the hit it needed to drive in a run. One of the best chances came in the fourth when
Leah Young reached on an error and stole second with one out. However, Quolas struck out
Haley Zuehlke followed by a ground out from
Jessica Roth to end the threat.
Allen suffered the loss as she toss the first four innings of the game before leaving in the fifth. She allowed five runs on five hits with three walks and a strikeout. Watson tossed two innings of relief allowing one run on one hit with a walk and two strikeouts.
Quolas tossed her second straight complete game against the Eagles as she earned a victory with a four-hit shutout with a walk and seven strikeouts to improve to 10-9.
Haley finished the day 2-for-5, reaching base four times and getting two stolen bases as well. Sophomore
Maddie Antone, the team's top batter and team leader in runs and RBI, did not play in the series and has now missed six straight games.
The Eagles stranded a total of 12 runners on the day and on five occasions hit into a fielder's choice that got the lead runner out at second.
