RADFORD, VA—Winthrop scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning and held on for a 7-6 victory at Radford, Saturday evening in Big South Conference softball action.

With the victory the Eagles clinch a spot in the six-team Big South Tournament next week as they improve to 24-27 overall and 9-10 in the Big South. Radford falls to 25-26 overall and 6-13 in the league. The teams will wrap-up the series and the regular season with a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m.

"We recovered and came back to score two runs in in the seventh," said Winthrop co-head coach Mark Cooke. "They came back and scored one in the seventh but Keleigh (Romine) got a couple of grounders back to her and thank goodness she's a great fielder as she made the plays. Even when they came back and tied the game our girls didn't get down. They just continued to battle back. It was a good team win. They just didn't quit and give up and knew what was at stake and they went out and grabbed it."

Maddie Antone led off the seventh inning with a double. Ashley Westbrooks then singled to center and Antone held up at third to put runners on the corners. However, a throw home wasn't cut off and got away into foul territory as Antone raced home for a 6-5 lead. Westbrooks hustled over to third on the play and then scored on the next play when Lowers lined out to center to lead 7-5.

Winthrop pushed three runs across in the third to strike first. Brooke Ellison doubled to left with one out to put runners at second and third and then Leah Young came through with a single through the right side to score Romine. Two batters later Antone came up with two outs and hit a solid grounder to first base. The ball scooted through the legs of first baseman Kayla Bishton, which allowed Ellison and Young to score for a 3-0 lead.

Romine gave the Eagles a 5-0 lead in the 4^th as she doubled down the left field line, scoring Madyson Watson and Ansley Gilreath.  

Radford took advantage of some defensive miscues and a couple of wild pitches to tie the game with a five-run fourth. Maggie Rowe drew a one out walk, which was followed by back-to-back doubles from Summer Robinson and Hannah Medlam. At that point Kiley Majette entered the game in the circle and proceeded to issue three straight walks, with two of the fourth ball getting away that allowed runners to score on the wild pitch. The tying run came on a sacrifice fly to left by Bishton.

Romine earned the win and improved to 5-9 as she tossed seven innings allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts. Antone extended her hitting streak to seven games and Westbrooks has now reached base in 10 straight games.