ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop softball suffered its first home loss of the season in a 1-0 defeat to Western Carolina, Friday evening on the opening day of the Winthrop Invitational at Terry Field.

The Eagles received another strong pitching performance from junior Dallas King as their record falls to 8-10. Western Carolina improves to 5-8 on the year. Winthrop will look to bounce back on Saturday when it hosts Belmont at 1 p.m. and Furman at 3 p.m.

The difference in the game was one swing of the bat as junior Victoria Mariscal hit a one-out home run down the left field line in the top of the sixth for her third home run of the season. Each team left five runners on base.

The home run was the first earned run allowed by King in the previous 29 innings pitched. She tossed six innings allowing the one run on four hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

Western Carolina's Jordan Garrett earned the win in the circle holding the Eagles to two hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.

The Eagles best opportunity to score came in the bottom of the third when K.J. Uyeno led off with a walk and was moved to second on a sacrifice by Paige Haley. Zharne Glover followed with a single to second base to put runners at the corners with one out. That brought up Maddie Antone as she hit a grounder to 1^st and Uyeno was off on contact but the throw home was in time to keep the game scoreless at the time.

Antone extended her hitting streak to five games as she was 1-for-3. Glover's single gives her a hit in three straight games.