LYNCHBURG, VA— Winthrop softball dropped the final game of its Big South Conference series 5-3 at Liberty, Saturday afternoon.
Winthrop is now 10-20 overall and 0-3 in the Big South. Liberty is now 14-13 on the year and 3-0 in the league. It was the 10
th straight game on the road over the last 10 days and the Eagles will remain on the road for a doubleheader on Wednesday, Mar. 23 at Presbyterian College starting at 2 p.m.
The Eagles led after the first as
Leah Young hit her eighth home run of the season with a shot down the left field line. That hit extended her streak of reaching base to 20 games. The streak is tied for the 4
th best streak since 2006.
Liberty then tied the game in the bottom of the second as Tori Zavodny got it started with a leadoff walk. She was sacrificed to second and then scored on a single by Kassidy McCoy to center. Two batters later the Flames took a 2-1 lead as Jaclyn Amader singled to right and then moved to second on the throw home to put runners at second and third with one out.
Dallas King was able to avoid any more damage as the runner on third tried to score on a ground ball but was thrown out by King at home. Then Amader was picked off at third to end the inning by
Paige Haley's throw.
A leadoff double in the bottom of the third to Madison Kotchey got things going for Liberty as it added two more runs for a 4-1 lead. Kotchey and Alexia Taylor, who walked after the Kotchey double, scored on a single up the middle from Zavodny. A solo home run by
Toni Pancione in the top of the fourth cut the deficit in half for the Eagles, but Liberty pushed the lead back to three with a leadoff home run by Amader.
Winthrop didn't go down easy as the seventh started with
Chace Helms reaching on an error. Pinch-runner
Madison Templeton moved to second on a grounder and then advanced to third on a grounder by
Brooke Ellison. Templeton came around to score on the play on an errant throw by Liberty's pitcher Chandler Ball.
King took the loss in the circle for Winthrop as she allowed four runs on five hits with four walks and two strikeouts in three innings. Helms tossed the final three innings allowing one run on three hits with two walks. Julia DiMartino earned the win for Liberty as she allowed two runs on four hits with no walks and a strikeout in four innings.
