MT. PLEASANT, SC— Winthrop softball dropped two hard-fought games Sunday afternoon at the Holy City Showdown as it fell 3-1 to Wright State and 7-6 in nine innings to College of Charleston.
 
GAME INFORMATION
RECORDS: Winthrop (9-9), Wright State (6-14), College of Charleston (15-8)
WINTHROP LEADERS: Ashley Westbrooks (3-for-8, run, 2 RBI, 5 assists), Tori Walker (2-for-6, 2R, 2B, 2RBI), Morgan Lowers (3-for-7, 2RBI)
 
COACHES QUOTE
Head Coach Mark Cooke~
"We lost two good games today. Everybody down here was good. That last game against Charleston was a terrific effort by our players. We just couldn't get a break today that we needed and their (CofC) best players put the ball in play and were able to beat us. So we'll look to build from this."
        
WHAT HAPPENED
            vs. Wright State

• Eagles struck first in the bottom of the third as Makenzye Whitman got her first collegiate hit with a leadoff double to right center
• Whitman moved to third as Shayna Covington reached on a bunt single
• Ashley Westbrooks stepped in and delivered a single to right, scoring Whitman for the 1-0 lead
• Morgan Lowers sacrificed Covington and Westbrooks to 2^nd and 3^rd to put two runners in scoring position with 1 out but the Eagles were unable to add to the lead
• Wright State responded in the top half of the 4^th inning with two outs
• Madison Whitaker singled to right center with one out and was moved into scoring position at 2^nd with a sacrifice
• Jordan Kennaw came through with a double to left center to tie the game and then Kaitlyn Skinner's single to left gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead
• The Eagles gave themselves a chance to potentially tie the game as Lowers singled to leadoff the sixth
• Wallert sacrifice her to second and with two outs Keleigh Romine singled to left, but Lowers was thrown out at home
• Wright State added an insurance run in the top of the 7^th as Macey Gunther came through with a two-out RBI single, but was thrown out trying to reach second on the play
• Six different Eagles had hits as the team left four runners stranded
• Madyson Watson took the loss in the circle as she allowed two runs on four this with a walk and three strikeouts in four innings 

vs. College of Charleston

• A leadoff bunt single by Taylor DuPree to start the bottom of the first led to a 1-0 lead for the Cougars
• With runners on first and second, Kiley Majette got a foul out and pop out before giving up an RBI single through the right side that drove in DuPree
• In the bottom of the second, the Cougars took advantage of a fielding miscue by the Eagles and turned into a 3-0 lead
• Brittany Vicary reached on an error that would have been the second out as Majette got the next batter to pop out
• The Cougars took advantage as Yari Felix drew a walk and then Kelly Sinclair singled up the middle on the first pitch to score two and push the lead to three runs
• The Eagles battled back to tie the game in the top of the 5^th
• Majette doubled to left to leadoff the inning and moved to third on a sacrifice by Whitman
• Tori Walker followed with a single up the middle to make it a 3-1 game
• After Jill Derrick moved Walker to second on a sacrifice, Westbrooks singled to put runners at the corners
• Lowers stepped in and singled to left center, scoring Walker and Westbrooks before she was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double to tie the game 3-3
• In the top of the seventh it was Majette setting the table again with a leadoff single as she was replaced on the bases by Kamryn Culp
• Whitman sacrificed Culp to second and then Walker doubled down the left field line, scoring Culp and give the Eagles their first lead of the game, 4-3
• After Derrick reached on an error, Westbrooks singled to left, scoring Walker for a 5-3 lead
• Majette retired the first two batters of the seventh, but then ran into trouble after back-to-back singles
• With two on and two outs, Jordin Jones doubled to left to tie the game 5-5
• Neither team scored in the 8^th inning despite getting runners to third after being placed on second base as part of the international tie-breaker
• The Eagles took a 6-5 lead in the 9^th as Whitman was placed on second, moved to third on a sacrifice and scored on a fielding error on Derrick's grounder to short
• There were two more good chances for the Eagles to add to the lead, but Westbrooks grounded out and Lowers flied out to right
• Majette struck out the first batter of the 9^th but a bunt single by DuPree put runners at the corners and then she stole second to put two runners in scoring position
• Felix stepped in and doubled to right center on a 1-1 pitch, for the walk-off two RBI hit
• Majette finished the game allowing seven runs (four earned) on 12 hits with a walk and four strikeouts as he falls to 5-4 on the year
• Westbrooks, Lowers, Majette and Walker each had two hits in the game as Lowers and Walker each had two RBI
• The Eagles stranded seven base runners in the game as they ended with six runs on nine hits
• The top four batters for the Cougars finished the game a combined 10-for-17 with four runs and six RBI

 
EXTRA BASES

• Westbrooks had an RBI in each game on Sunday and has one in three straight after no RBI in the previous five games
• The Eagles allowed eight runs with two outs on Sunday as the only two runs that were not with two out came in the 9^th inning in the loss to CofC
• Lowers extended her hitting streak to five straight games with her single in the 6^th against Wright State and a single in the 4^th against the Cougars
• Walker had the first two-hit game of her career against CofC as she also set a career-high with two RBI
• Majette also had her first multiple-hit game as she finished 2-for-4 with a run
• This was Majette's second game this season tossing nine innings as she lost a 2-1 decision in extras at Furman on Feb. 25
• The two runs by the Cougars in the bottom of the 7^th were the first time all season the Eagles allowed a run in the 7^th inning as they had been 7-0 when leading after six innings 

 
ON DECK
Winthrop will return home as it opens Big South Conference action with a three-game series with Charleston Southern, beginning Friday with a single-game at 6 p.m. The series will wrap-up on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.