N. CHARLESTON, SC— It was a game of missed opportunities as Winthrop softball fell 3-2 in 12 innings at Charleston Southern in the final game of the three-game series, Saturday afternoon.

Winthrop falls to 15-21 overall and 4-7 in the Big South while Charleston Southern improves to 26-16 and 8-4 in the league. It was the second game this week for the Eagles that went at least 11 innings. The Eagles will look to rebound on Tuesday, Apr. 7 as they host Presbyterian College for a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m.

"It was a terrific ball game between two good teams today," said Winthrop head coach Mark Cooke. "Both teams made good defensive plays. All of our pitchers today were sharp as were theirs. The thing that excites me is our pitchers really did a good job against a good hitting team today. That's a quality team and I feel like we did a good job this weekend taking one and having a chance to win the series."

After the Eagles were unable to drive in Haley Zuehlke from third base and one out, Charleston Southern won the game in the bottom of the 12^th on a single to center as Natalie Yonan swung at the first pitch that scored Brook Richardson from third.

The Eagles led 2-1 heading into the fifth inning and had an opportunity to add to that lead in the top of the inning as Zharne Glover and K.J. Uyeno led off with back-to-back singles. Jennifer Giles struck out Paige Haley and then got Maddie Antone to line out to right. A wild pitch by Giles moved Glover and Uyeno both into scoring position but Kelsey Ritter was called out on strikes on a 3-2 count to end the inning.

Winthrop was aggressive in the 10^th as Tara Loken tried to score from third on a grounder by Glover to second base, but the throw home was in time and kept the Eagles off the board.

The Bucs scored first but the Eagles responded immediately with two runs in the top of the third. Glover scored on an error and then Antone scored on a double by Ritter. A leadoff home run by Marci Christian in the sixth tied the game at 2-2.

During the course of the game, Winthrop stranded runners in scoring position in the first three innings, the fifth inning and the final three innings. The Eagles couldn't get the breaks they needed as they finished the game 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left a total of 10 runners on base.

Sara Allen and Dallas King were strong in relief after Sutton Watson started the game and tossed 2.1 innings allowing one run on two hits with a strikeout. Allen allowed one run on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 4.2 innings. King took the loss after allowing one unearned run on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts in four innings. King entered the game in the bottom of the eighth after the first two batters reached base, but then struck out the next batter followed by an ending-inning double play to extend the game.

Charleston Southern's Hayley Elkins started the game and didn't allow a run or a hit in two innings but did walk two. She was replaced by Giles, who earned the win with 10 innings of relief as she allowed two runs on five hits with a walk and nine strikeouts.

Antone finished the day 1-for-4 with a run while Glover had two hits and a run. Antone extended her hitting streak to six games.