Winthrop Softball Downs Youngstown State and Wright State Saturday; Extends Win Streak to Six Games

ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop softball team got solid hitting from the heart of its order Saturday as the Eagles picked up victories over Youngstown State and Wright State on the first day of the Winthrop/Adidas Invitational.

The Eagles are now 9-10 overall on the season and are in the midst of a six-game winning streak.

“We got two quality wins today against two very competitive teams,” head coach Mark Cooke said. “Our pitchers were very resilient and battled in the tough spots that we needed them to. We hit very well today also and really excelled on the basepaths.”

Winthrop battled back and forth with the Penguins of Youngstown State in the first game. Winthrop put up three runs in the bottom of the first which included a two-run homerun by Mel Andrea. Youngstown put up two runs in the third and one in the fifth to tie the game at 3-3.

Winthrop responded in the bottom of the fifth as Andrea came up big again with a one-out single to left field, plating two runs. The Penguins came back in the top of the sixth with a three-run blast to straight-away center field to go back up 6-5.

Yet again in the bottom of the sixth, the Eagles countered the Penguins offense. Winthrop tied the game at 6-6 on a fielder’s choice before back-to-back hits from Naomi Stevens and McKenzi Corn plated the final two runs for the Eagles.

The heart of the order for the Eagles had a big day against the Penguins as the 2-3-4 hitters, Stevens, Corn and Andrea each recorded three hits and accounted for seven of the team’s eight runs batted in. Dallas King came in to pitch in the fifth inning and picked up the victory, her third of the season.

Winthrop jumped on the Raiders of Wright State in the second game of the day with two runs in the bottom of the third inning as miscues hurt the Raiders.

The Eagles tacked on their third run in the bottom of the fourth as Stevens’ triple scored Zharne Glover. Andrea scored for Winthrop in the fourth to put the Eagles up 4-0. Wright State fought back to put up two runs in the top of the sixth to get within 4-2.

Corn added to her solid day at the plate in the bottom of the sixth as she laced a double down the left field line, plating one to put the Eagles back up by three going to the seventh inning.

Wright State did not go down quietly, as it tacked on one with a solo homerun to center field in the top of the seventh. Sara Allen then came in to try and close it down for the Eagles. The Raiders got their second run of the inning off a throwing error by the Eagles. Allen then got back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.

Glover, Stevens and Andrea each recorded two hits against the Raiders while Stevens and Andrea each knocked in two runs. Sutton Watson three 6.1 innings and gave up four runs, with only one earned. Allen got the final two outs of the game to pick up her first save of the season.

Winthrop will return to the field on Sunday in the second day of the Winthrop/Adidas Invitational as the Eagles take on Marist at 1 p.m. followed by Eastern Kentucky at 3 p.m.