ROCK HILL, SC—Leah Young drove in three runs to lead Winthrop softball to an 8-1 victory over Gardner-Webb, Wednesday afternoon on Terry Field.

The victory gives the Eagles a regular-season series sweep of the Runnin' Bulldogs as they are now 22-23 overall and 11-9 in the Big South. Gardner-Webb falls to 12-30 overall and 4-17 in the league. Winthrop will be back in action this weekend when it concludes its conference schedule with a series against Liberty starting with a doubleheader on Friday, Apr. 24 at 5 p.m.

"After that adrenaline high yesterday from the game it was nice to come out and play hard and feed off that," said Winthrop head coach Mark Cooke, whose team has now won six of its last seven. "We did a good job at putting the ball in play, drove runs in when we got them in scoring position. We got great pitching today. I thought Dallas (King) threw five good innings while Sutton (Watson) came in and did a good job in the final two innings. I think the team is starting to get a little confidence now."

Young put the Eagles up 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning with a one-out single up the middle that scored Paige Haley and Kelsey Ritter. It is the third straight game with two or more RBI for Young.

The Eagles extended their lead with a four-run third inning highlighted by a two-run home run by Tara Loken to center field. It was Loken's first collegiate home run and it gave the Eagles a 6-0 lead. Young made it 3-0 in favor of the Eagles with an RBI single to start the scoring off in the third and Haley Zuehlke drove home Maddie Antone with a sacrifice fly to center.

Winthrop added another run in both the fourth and fifth innings. Zuehlke provided an RBI single in the fourth inning and Haley scored on a throwing error by the catcher in her attempt to get Antone stealing second.

The lone run for Gardner-Webb came in the fourth as Megan Champion drove home Amanda Gomes with a single to center. The Runnin' Bulldogs loaded the bases with no outs in the first and the sixth innings but both times Eagle pitching worked its way out of the jam. King worked her way out with a force out, strikeout and pop up while Watson got a strikeout before an inning-ending double play.

King earned the win in the circle for the Eagles as she improves to 5-9 on the year after allowing one run on seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts in five innings. Watson tossed the final two innings allowing three hits and striking out one.

Summer Darnell took the loss for Gardner-Webb after allowing six runs on six hits with two walks in 2.2 innings as she falls to 9-13.

Zuehlke led the Eagles with three hits on the day while Young and Haley each had two. Young, Zuehlke and Loken were responsible for driving in seven of the team's eight runs.