BOILING SPRINGS, NC—Winthrop softball fell 3-2 at Gardner-Webb, Wednesday evening in Big South Conference action.
Winthrop suffers its sixth straight setback as it falls to 20-23 overall and is now 6-6 in the Big South. Gardner-Webb improves to 12-25 on the year and 5-7 in the league. The Eagles look to end their six-game skid on Friday when they face Charleston Southern at 5 p.m. in the opening game of a three-game series. The two teams will then play a doubleheader on Saturday with the first pitch scheduled at 1 p.m.
Gardner-Webb broke through in the third inning with two outs as Callie Thornton doubled to left center, scoring two.
The Gardner-Webb lead was cut to one in the fifth inning as the Eagles pushed two across in the top half. Pinch-hitter
Tara Loken started the inning reaching base by catcher's interference.
Paige Haley followed with a single and then
Shayna Covington sacrificed the two over. That brought up
Maddie Antone, who singled to load the bases as the runners stayed put.
Ashley Westbrooks followed with a two-run single to left.
The Eagles had nine hits and stranded 10 runners in the game as Covington had two hits while Antone finished with three and increased her batting average to .425 on the year.
Romine (3-7) took the loss in the circle after allowing three runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
Kiley Majette tossed two innings of relief allowing two hits. Gardner-Webb's Summer Darnell earned the win and improved to 2-8 after allowing two runs on nine hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
Westbrooks extended her hitting streak to seven games with the two-run single in the fifth and has also reached base in seven straight league contests.
