RADFORD, VA— Winthrop softball fell 2-1 and 6-1 at Radford Sunday afternoon as the regular season came to a close.

The Eagles are now 24-29 overall and finish Big South play at 9-12 as they will be back in action this coming week in the Big South Conference Tournament. Radford also clinched a trip to the conference tournament with its two wins as it improves to 27-26 overall and 8-13 in the league.

"They just seemed to want it more than us today," said co-head coach Mark Cooke. "I thought that Kiley (Majette) threw a great ball game in the first game allowing two hits. The second game they had a couple of seeing-eye singles and that kind of set the tone. I felt Keleigh (Romine) threw pretty well and Madyson (Watson) put in some quality innings. We'll be ready for the tournament come Wednesday."

In the first game of the day, Radford's first hit of the game came in the bottom of the fourth when freshman Hunter Mundy hit a line drive home run to left center for a 1-0 lead. Winthrop tied the game with two outs in the top of the fifth as freshman Ansley Gilreath tagged her first collegiate home run with a shot to left. It was a bad break for the Eagles as the home run came one pitch after Leah Young had been called out at first for leaving early.

In the top of the sixth the Eagles had a great opportunity to break the 1-1 tie, but stranded runners at the corners. Brooke Ellison led off with a walk and then Paige Haley ripped a single down the right field line to put runners at the corners. After Shayna Covington struck out, Haley stole second to put two runners in scoring position, but back-to-back ground outs by Maddie Antone and Ashley Westbrooks ended the threat.

In the bottom half of the sixth the Highlanders got their second hit of the game as Mundy hit her second home run of the game for a 2-1 lead, which turned out to be the game-winning hit.

Majette suffered the loss and fell to 13-15 despite a strong performance in six innings as she allowed two runs on two hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. Radford's Kayla Huffman started the game and went five innings allowing one run on two hits with two walks and seven strikeouts but didn't factor in the win. Abby Morrow earned the win and improved to 19-14 as she tossed the final two innings allowing just one hit and striking out two.

In the second game the Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 lead thanks to a Morgan Lowers single to left that scored Haley, who reached after leading off the game with a single. Haley has now hit safely in seven straight games.

Radford came right back in the second inning to take a 2-1 lead Summer Robinson tied the game with a bloop single to left center and then Kayla Bishton scored a run on a grounder to second base. The lead was extended to 3-1 in the third inning as Marissa Gagliano hit her second home run of the season. Radford added another in the fourth and two more in the sixth.

Romine took the loss in game two after allowing three runs on four hits with a walk and a strikeout as she falls to 5-10. Radford's Abby Morrow tossed a complete game allowing one run on six hits with a walk and two strikeouts and is now 20-14.