ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball earned a walk-off 8-7 victory over Canisius College and a 9-3 win over Rider on day two of the Winthrop/Adidas Tournament.
Winthrop has now won four straight and extended a home winning streak to 14 games as it evens its record to 7-7. Winthrop will be back in action on Mar. 4 when it faces Lehigh at 3 p.m. and South Carolina State at 5 p.m. on the first day of the Winthrop Invitational.
"In both games today we played really well," said Winthrop co-head coach
Mark Cooke. "The first game we had a letdown but came but came back and finished strong. The last game we started out strong and got behind and further behind. Then we come back in the seventh inning and make it happen. You have to give them credit, the kids really played hard and they're very excited after today. That ball club over there (Canisius) didn't' quit. I'll give them 100 percent credit they played hard. Beating them tonight like this is big for us."
A 3-run bottom of the seventh gave Winthrop the win in the nightcap as junior
Paige Haley came through with the walk-off single. Haley ripped a ball to center that would have been a double had she needed to run it out, but the hit scored freshman
Morgan Lowers for the win.
The rally began when
Haley Zuehlke drew a leadoff walk.
Tara Loken then hit a chopper to short that the third baseman charged to her left but couldn't scoop the ball on the run and both runners were safe. Both moved into scoring position on a wild pitch as
Kim Ryder came to the plate looking to tie the game. Ryder hit a grounder to short and Allie Block decided not to throw to first and it worked as she caught Zuehlke off the bag and the lead runner for the Eagles was out trying to get back to third. The next batter was
Zharne Glover and she came through with a single to left as Loken scored but Ryder was out at home as Meghan Cuda's throw was right on the mark from left. Looking to tie the game, freshman
Morgan Lowers came through with a single to left, scoring Glover for the tie. Lowers hustled around to second on the throw home, which was off the mark and Lowers moved to third to set up the chance for Haley.
Winthrop led 5-0 behind after three innings, but the Golden Griffins battled back with a six-run fourth to take the lead. Leading 1-0 in the second, Lowers made it 2-0 with an RBI single to right and Haley made it a three-run lead with a sacrifice fly. IN the third inning Loken belted a two-run homer for a 5-0 lead.
The comeback for Canisius was highlighted by a grand slam by Lindsey Silfer down the right field line with no outs. Two batters later starter
Dallas King was replaced in the circle by
Keleigh Romine, but Canisius continued to put the ball in play and get on base and another pitching change was made with two outs as
Kiley Majette came in. Majette gave up an RBI single to her first batter, but bot a line out to second to end the inning.
Majette finished the game tossing 3.1 innings allowing a run on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts to earn the win and is now 3-3 on the year. It was the second win in the circle for Majette on the day as she got the win earlier in the day in a start against Rider.
Winthrop scored four runs in each of the first two innings on its way to the big win over Rider. Of the nine runs scored on the day, eight of them occurred with two outs.
Majette tossed 4.2 innings allowing three runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts to earn the win. Romine closed the door by tossing the final 2.1 innings allowing no runs on two hits with a walk and three strikeouts.
Freshman
Brooke Ellison finished with a career-high three-hits and career-best four RBI to pace the Winthrop offense while Zuehlke drove in two runs.
On the day, Lowers finished with five hits and extended her hitting streak to six games as she had one run and three RBI. As a team the Eagles finished with 17 runs on 21 hits.
