MOUNT PLEASANT, SC— Winthrop softball extended its winning streak to five games after a 5-1 win over Lipscomb and a 2-1 win over College of Charleston, Sunday afternoon on the final day of the Cougar Classic at Patriots Point.
The Eagles went 5-0 during the Cougar Classic as they improve to 6-4 on the year while Lipscomb falls to 6-4 overall and College of Charleston is now 6-2. Winthrop is back in action next weekend when it hosts the Winthrop/adidas Tournament and will open with East Tennessee State (1 p.m.) and Bucknell (3 p.m.) on Friday, Feb. 24.
Winthrop led the College of Charleston 2-0 and hung on for the one-run victory behind a strong complete game pitching performance from
Kiley Majette. The sophomore lefty allowed just one run on seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts to improve to 3-3 on the year.
With two outs in the first,
Maddie Antone doubled to left center, moved to third on a passed ball and then scored on a
Morgan Lowers single up the middle. The Eagles took the 2-0 lead in the third as
Paige Haley led off with a single to center and moved to second on a wild pitch. After
Shayna Covington walked, Antone singled to center to load the bases. Freshman
Ashley Westbrooks drove the first pitch she saw to center field, scoring Haley from third with the sacrifice fly. Westbrooks finished the game 0-for-1 with a walk and the sac fly as her hitting streak stopped, but her reached-base streak is now 10 in a row.
Sam Martin took the loss for the Cougars after allowing two runs on five hits in 2.1 innings of work. Lexee Emmanuel led the Cougars with two hits and scored the lone run.
"Great weekend for us coming down here and going 5-0 so we're excited," said Winthrop co-head coach
Mark Cooke. "That was a quality win against the College of Charleston. Paige was tremendous offensively, defensively and on the bases this weekend. Antone was also very good offensively. Our pitching looked good all weekend as Keleigh (Romine) and Kiley threw well today. I think overall the team is getting better and winning a tournament is a great thing for the whole team."
In the win over Lipscomb, the Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings. Haley led off the game with a double down the right field line and then scored two batters later when Antone singled to right. In the second inning, the Eagles plated three runs with two outs as Antone came through again. With the bases loaded Antone tripled to center field for a 4-0 lead. It gave Antone 14 RBI in the first nine games of the season.
After Lipscomb manufactured a run in the bottom of the sixth, Winthrop added an insurance run in the seventh. Antone led off the inning with a double to left center and was replaced at second by pinch-runner
Jill Derrick. Westbroooks came through two batters later with a single to put runners at the corners. Then
Leah Young stepped in and singled to left to score Derrick for the 5-1 lead. It was Westbrooks second hit of the game as he extended her hitting streak to nine games.
Romine started the game in the circle and improved to 2-1 after allowing one run on two hits with five walks and three strikeouts. Majette earned her first career save by tossing the final two innings allowing just one run and striking out two.
Lipscomb's Mandy Jordan took the loss in the circle after allowing four runs (one earned) on seven hits in 3.2 innings as she falls to 4-2.
Winthrop finishes the weekend having won all five games at the Cougar Classic as the Eagles outscored their opponents 19-8 and batted .261 as a team while holding opponents to a .195 average. All three pitchers on the weekend that threw (Majette, Romine and
Madyson Watson) finished with ERA's under 2.00. Antone and Haley both finished with seven hits on the weekend while Westbrooks had six. Antone's single in the 3rd inning against the Cougars gave her 100 in her career and the game was her 100th career start.
