ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop softball earned a 10-8 victory over Belmont before falling 3-0 to Furman, Saturday afternoon at the Winthrop Invitational.
The Eagles are now 9-11 on the year as they will wrap-up play for the weekend on Sunday with games against Albany at noon and then will face Western Carolina at 2 p.m. Belmont is now 5-9 while the Paladins improved to 9-3.
"The first game we played a tough team and battled for a win," said Winthrop head coach
Mark Cooke. "We got no-hit by a great left-handed pitcher from Furman who had a great rise ball and a good change up. I thought Bradlee (Holeman) and Sara (Allen) both threw well."
The day began with the Eagles offense pounding out 10 runs on 13 hits. Winthrop scored a run in every inning except the first.
Winthrop led 7-6 heading to the bottom of the sixth as the Eagles put up three more runs for a 10-6 lead which proved big as Belmont answered with two in the top of the seventh in a rally attempt.
The sixth inning began with sophomore
Paige Haley and junior
Zharne Glover getting hit to get things going. The two moved over a base after a wild pitch and then Antone ripped a double to score both Haley and Glover. Antone moved over on a wild pitch and then scored on a single to left by
Kelsey Ritter.
The Bruins tried to rally in the seventh with three straight one-out singles. The Bruins managed two runs before
Dallas King came in to record her first career save by striking out the last two batters.
Leah Young finished the game 3-for-4 with a run and two RBI. Antone finished 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI while Ritter was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI. Haley finished 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI in the leadoff spot. Freshman
Madison Templeton had a career-best two hits as she also drove in her first career RBI with a double to left in the fifth.
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the second, when Ritter led off the inning with a solo shot to center to tie the game at 1-1. The Eagles made it 4-1 in the bottom of the third when Antone hit her first RBI double of the day and then Young delivered a two-run single two batters later.
Winthrop led 6-1 after four innings as Haley tripled down the right field line to score
K.J. Uyeno and Templeton.
Holeman started the game tossing 4.1 innings allowing three runs on three hits with six walks and four strikeouts to earn her first career win. Her counterpart Carolyn Snodgrass tossed five innings allowing eight runs on 11 hits with two walks and a strikeout to fall to 1-2 on the year.
In the second game, Furman's Lindsey Bert held the Eagles in check at the plate as she tossed a no-hitter with one walk and six strikeouts to improve to 6-2 on the year. King started the game and suffered the loss after allowing three runs on four hits in 1.2 innings as she falls to 1-5. Allen entered in the second inning and tossed 4.1 innings allowing just two hits with no walks and a strikeout.
The Paladins got all they needed in the bottom of the first inning courtesy of an RBI single from Elise Smith and a fielding error that led to the second run.
