BOILING SPRINGS, NC— Winthrop softball dropped both games of a doubleheader at Gardner-Webb in its first Big South Conference road test of the season.

Winthrop allowed two runs in the bottom of the seventh to fall 8-7 in the first game before falling 10-2 in the nightcap. The Eagles fall to 14-16 overall and are now 3-2 in the Big South while Gardner-Webb improves to 9-18 and is off to a 2-0 start in the league. Winthrop will have a quick opportunity to bounce back as it hosts Western Carolina in a doubleheader on Thursday at 3 p.m.

"We just got hammered," said Winthrop co-head coach Mark Cooke. "We used every pitcher and they hit every ball we could throw and we just couldn't get them out. It was one of those games where our pitching wasn't good enough to carry our offense and our offense wasn't good enough to carry our pitching. We're going to have to take this one and get over it. We just have to regroup now. Give Gardner-Webb credit because every player on their team hit the ball."

In the first game the Eagles jumped on the Runnin' Bylldogs early  with three runs in the top of the first. Ashley Westbrooks hit a two-out double to left center that plated Maddie Antone. After Leah Young reached on an error by the right fielder that scored Westbrooks, Morgan Lowers came through with an RBI single to center.

After Gardner-Webb got one back in the bottom of the first, the Eagles pushed the lead to 4-1 in the second as Brooke Ellison scored when Shayna Covington reached on an error.

Leading 4-2 in the top of the fourth, Winthrop pushed three across for the second time in the game as Lowers provided the big hit with a two-run single with two outs. Leah Young, who moved to third on the Lowers single, then made it a 7-2 lead as she scored on a passed ball. However, the Runnin' Bulldogs scored two runs in each of the final three innings to win on a walk-off single by Rachel Cumiskey.

Sophomore Kiley Majette took the loss in two innings of relief as she allowed four runs on six hits with a walk and no strikeouts and is now 6-8 on the year. Ashley Westbrooks had two runs and an RBI in the game while Lowers was 2-for-4 with three RBI.

In the nightcap the Eagles fell behind 4-0 in the first and tried to chip away at the lead but just couldn't overcome the deficit. Following the four-run first by Gardner-Webb, Winthrop answered with two in the top of the second as Leah Young led off the inning with a solo shot to center and then with two outs Brooke Ellison tripled down the right field line, scoring Keleigh Romine from first to cut the deficit in half.

Gardner-Webb grabbed a 6-2 lead in the third as Romine walked the leadoff batter and then Alia Booth hit a home run to right. Three more runs were added in the fourth for a 9-2 advantage and then a walk-off single by Megan Gibbons in the fifth gave Gardner-Webb the 11-2 win in five innings.

Freshman Sabrina Shroades suffered the loss in the circle in game two as she allowed four runs on three hits with two walks and a strikeout to fall to 2-2.