ROCK HILL, SC—Senior
Kristy Noble's two-run walk-off single capped a six-run seventh as Winthrop rallied for an 8-7 victory over Presbyterian College, Tuesday afternoon on Terry Field.
Noble ripped a 2-2 pitch up the middle with runners on second and third to cap off the rally as
Kim Ryder scored easily from third and
Leah Young slid home safely. The win moves the Eagles to 21-23 overall and 10-9 in the Big South as they take the regular season series 2-1 against the Blue Hose, who fall to 20-18 overall and 9-7 in the league.
"That was a high adrenaline win," said Winthrop head coach
Mark Cooke. "You have to feel bad for PC to give up six runs in the bottom of the seventh but I give our kids credit for not trying to hit home runs. They were able to get on base with walks and base hits. They stayed in the game and they competed in the end. PC hit the ball really well and they put us in a hole. We just stayed in there and didn't quit and that was important."
The Eagles will look for their third straight win on Wednesday, April 22 at 4 p.m. when they host Gardner-Webb.
Winthrop trailed 5-2 heading into the seventh inning when the Blue Hose added two more runs in the top of the inning on a sacrifice fly from Shelby Petik and an RBI double down the line from Erin Taylor.
That gave the Eagles a bigger deficit to climb out of but they were up to the challenge. With one away in the seventh,
Shayna Covington reached on an infield single and then
Zharne Glover drew a walk. Two batters later
K.J. Uyeno drew a walk on a 3-2 count to load the bases.
Maddie Antone walked to score the first run of the inning and that was followed by a walk from
Kelsey Ritter to cut the deficit to 7-4. PC made a pitching change to bring in Katie Brown to try and get the last out, but Young stepped in and ripped a double off the base of the wall in center field, scoring both Uyeno and Antone to make it a one-run game. That brought Noble to the plate, who entered the game as a defensive sub in the top of the sixth inning with one out.
PC took a 3-0 lead in the third on an RBI double from Petik and a two-run home run by Erin Ruff. The lead was extended two 4-0 in the fourth when Blaine Miller came through with an RBI single down the right field line.
Haley Zuehlke cut the PC lead in half in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run home run, her fourth on the season. PC then added one more run in the sixth and then the two runs in the seventh for the five-run lead heading into Winthrop's final at-bat.
Sutton Watson earned the victory in the circle as she tossed three innings of relief allowing three runs on four hits with a walk and a strikeout as she evens her record to 6-6 on the year.
Dallas King got the start for Winthrop as she tossed four innings allowing four runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
Brown took the loss for PC as she allowed one run on two hits as she falls to 2-1. Kensley Loudermelk started for PC as she threw 6.2 innings allowing seven runs on five hits with four walks and four strikeouts.
