The Presbyterian College softball team crawled back from a 4-0 deficit, only to see its rally fall short to Winthrop, 4-3, in game one of a Big South doubleheader this afternoon at the PC Softball Complex in Clinton, S.C. The Eagles came back to win the second game, 9-5.
PC drops to 14-11 overall and 0-2 in the league, while the Eagles improve to 15-13, 3-2. PC is on the road this weekend, Mar. 22-23, for a three-game series at Charleston Southern. Saturday's doubleheader begins at 1 p.m., with the first game being shown live on ESPN3.
Sydney Seigler picked up the loss in game one for PC (8-6), after going 4.1 innings and giving up four runs off eight hits, while striking out five. Sara Allen took the Eagle win (6-5) in a complete game effort, giving up six hits and just one earned run with four Ks.
Game two saw Dallas King take the win for Winthrop in relief (4-2). She went 5.2 innings while throwing a three-hit shutout. Katie Brown, in three innings for the Blue Hose, earned the loss (2-3), giving up three earned runs off seven hits.
Kersten Legacki went three-for-seven to lead the home team. She collected three RBI, with one coming in a solo home run, her sixth of the season, in a last ditch effort down two runs in the bottom of the seventh. She drove in a run with a single in the first inning of game two and posted a sacrifice fly in a four-run second inning that saw PC take a 5-3 lead.
Abby Allen and Erin Taylor were the only other Blue Hose with multiple hits. Allen recorded a base hit in each game, while Taylor posted a RBI single as the Blue Hose cut Winthrop's lead to two, 4-2, in a two-run fifth inning of game one. Taylor recorded a single in the second inning of game two, scoring a run in that frame as well.
Shelby Petik came away with two RBI on the day, the first coming off a RBI ground-out in the fifth inning of game one, the second off a RBI single in the second inning of game two.
Leading Winthrop was Kelsey Ritter, who went five-for-eight with a home run and three RBI. She hit a two-run shot over the left field wall in the fourth inning of game one as the Eagles jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Going three-for-four in game two, she had three straight singles, the third a RBI hit in a two-run fifth inning.
Maddie Antone and Mel Andrea both collected four hits for the Eagles. Antone recorded two RBI, one coming in the second inning, the other in the fifth of game two. Andrea hit two doubles, with one each game.
Megan Winningham made her lone hit of the game count, knocking a solo shot over the centerfield wall to give Winthrop a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning of game one.
Winthrop out-hit PC, 12-6 in game one and had two errors. Game two saw the Eagles record 13 hits, compared to five for the Blue Hose. PC had two errors, to Winthrop's one. Both teams had their chances to score more runs with PC stranding 15 runners, including nine in game one. Winthrop left 13 on base, with eight coming in the first game.
Winthrop opened up a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning of game one, before PC scored two in the fifth and one in the seventh to come up a run short, falling 4-3.
PC scored a run in the first and four in the second of game two to take a 5-3 lead over the Eagles. Winthrop rallied with four runs in the fourth and two runs in the fifth to take the eventual 9-5 win.
