ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop scored three runs in the first and held on for a 4-3 victory over league-leading Liberty, Friday evening in Big South Conference softball action.

The Eagles open the three-game series with a win and improve to 23-25 overall and 8-8 in the league. Liberty falls to 32-18 on the year and 13-3 in the Big South. The teams will wrap-up the series on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. The first game of the doubleheader will air on ESPN3.

"We jumped on them early with three and sort of took them out of their rhythm," said Winthrop co-head coach Mark Cooke. "We got the fourth run in the fourth and gave them one back in the fifth and the seventh but the kids just kept playing and battling. Fly ball to right field with the runner on first that tried to get to second and thrown out, that was a heck of a play by Ashley Westbrooks. It's nice to come out and beat Liberty in the first game of a conference series. Leah Young had a good night at the plate. I thought Paige Haley and Maddie (Antone) hit the ball hard just right at people. It was a pretty good night for us, we played hard and it was a good team effort."

After Liberty took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a solo home run by Amber Bishop, Winthrop responded with three runs in the bottom half. Haley singled to lead things off and then Shayna Covington reached on a fielding error. Antone sacrificed the two runners into scoring position and then Westbrooks walked to load the bases. The first run came on a wild pitch as Haley raced home. Then Leah Young singled to third base two batters later, which forced the third baseman to make a diving stop. Alexia Taylor tried to make a throw to first but it wasn't I time and the throw was off the mark. Covington scored on the play and Westbrooks raced home on the bad throw for a 3-1 lead.

The Eagles took a 4-1 lead when Young hit a home run to right center. It was her second straight game with a home run, her 10^th of the season and 22^nd of her career.

The lead was cut in half in the fifth inning when Bishop reached on an infield single. The Flames made it a one-run game in the seventh when Jaclyn Amader singled to left but the ball got by Madison Templeton and Amader went to third on the error. Amader scored two batters later when Jasmeen Glick laid down a bunt as Haley picked up the ball and tried to tag but the runner but ran into a teammate. The game ended on a double play as Bishop hit a deep fly to right and Tori Zavodny at first tried to tag and get into scoring position but Westbrooks delivered a perfect throw to second as Antone applied the tag.

Winthrop's Keleigh Romine earned the win in the circle and improved to 4-8 after allowing two runs on one hit with two walks and two strikeouts in 4.1 innings. Kiley Majette tossed the remaining 2.2 innings allowing one unearned run on three hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

Liberty's Julia DiMartino took the loss as she falls to 14-8 after allowing four runs (one earned) on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts.