Rock Hill, S.C.- Wofford's softball program (27-16, 8-4 SoCon) lost a nailbiter to Winthrop (25-18,6-5 Big South) in extra innings. The Terriers' late seventh inning rally was usurped by a Winthrop walk-off in the eighth to bring the final score to 6-7 in Rock Hill on Tuesday, April 15.
Sophomore Sydney Baker took the mound in her first career start for the Terriers. Pitching 5.2 innings, the longest outing in her career, she allowed six hits with four earned runs given up and only one walk issued. The circle was passed to Natalya Salo, who threw the last 1.1 innings of action, giving up three hits to accompany three runs in the loss moving her record to 6-5 on the season.
The Terriers jumped on the Eagles early when in the top of the second Brianna Stanley hit a solo homerun to put Wofford up 1-0 after two innings. In the bottom of the third, Winthrop responded with a solo homerun of their own to tie the game at one apiece. Winthrop added to their lead in the fourth scoring two runs which supplemented their lead to 3-1. Winthrop again added to their total in the sixth for a 4-1 advantage after six innings.
The Wofford offense reawakened in the top of the seventh scoring four runs in the frame. The rally started with an Abby Gossett solo shot, followed by Kaytlin Greenwood's own solo home run to cut the lead to 4-3. After a walk and a pinch runner stolen base by Desirae Devine, Wofford had a runner on second with two outs for Brianna Stanley. The freshman Stanley came in clutch with a sharply hit single to left field scoring the speedy Devine to tie the game up at four each. With another single and a walk, the Terriers had the bases loaded for Abbi Campbell who hit an RBI single capping off the miraculous top of the seventh comeback at 5-4. Winthrop tied it back up in the bottom half of the inning to send the game into extras.
In extras, a Hope Ingle sacrifice fly brought in a run to give Wofford the 6-5 lead in pursuit of making a comeback. However, in the bottom half of the eighth, Winthrop walked it off with a two-run home run to end the game 6-7.
Wofford will return to action Friday, April 18, to take on Chattanooga in double header to begin a three-game series hosted by the Terriers at Hope Field. The first pitch of game one is slated for 1:00 p.m.
