Rock Hill, S.C. – Western Carolina softball went toe-to-toe with host Winthrop throughout Sunday afternoon's tournament finale before the Eagles used a four-run seventh inning to stun the Catamounts 4-2 from the on-campus Terry Field in Rock Hill.
WCU posted a 4-1 weekend in Rock Hill and returns home winners of 10 of their last 12 games to begin a 13-game homestand on Tuesday afternoon.
Sophomores Lily Bell, Maya McPherson, and Becka Wonsick each tallied hits in the contest as Bell stole her team-high 14th base of the season while McPherson grabbed her third, and junior Rylee Butler recorded her first as a Catamount. McPherson picked up her league-high 27th RBI as she had an RBI in all five games over the weekend.
Bell led the way for WCU in the tournament with a .500 batting average (7-of-14), including a pair of doubles and added six steals. McPherson totaled seven hits with a double and a pair of home runs with seven RBI. Sydney Dirks connected on three homers with seven RBIs for the Catamounts. As a team, WCU totaled a .278 average with 40 hits, including six doubles and six homers.
In the circle, senior Tessa Juett dialed up a season-high 10 strikeouts to bring her season total to 43. WCU, as a staff, allowed eight earned runs over 34.2 innings of work, led by Juett with a 0.43 ERA (1 ER in 16.1 IP) and freshman Amanda Fulton, who went 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA (3 ER in 14 IP). Juett had a team-high 19 strikeouts, followed by Fulton with a dozen.
Western Carolina stranded five Winthrop base runners over the first two innings with Juett striking out three. After a scoreless third that saw Juett continue to rack up the strikeouts, WCU got the offense going with a leadoff single from Bell. After she stole second and went to third on a throwing error, the guests had the game's first runner on third with no outs.
Butler drew the free pass and swiped her first bag of the season before McPherson knuckled a flyball over the shortstop's head into left for a base hit to score Bell with the opening run of the contest. Butler quickly moved into scoring position and on a bunt chance from Mentel, the Eagles attempted to throw home unsuccessfully sending WCU to the bottom of the fourth up 2-0.
Juett added two more strikeouts in the fourth to help WCU maintain a 2-0 lead through four complete.
Both teams sent the minimum to the plate in the fifth with no offense created as Taylor Waitley threw out a would-be base stealer to send the contest to the sixth.
In the top of the seventh, Wonsick picked up a one-out single, but the Eagles erased WCU's chance to preserve the two-run difference, sending the game to the home half of the seventh at 2-0.
Winthrop (15-10) opened the bottom of the seventh inning with its first two runners reaching before a sacrifice fly allowed the Eagles to cut the score in half at 2-1. After a flyout and a walk put two on, the Eagles connected on a three-run walk-off to straightaway center to complete the comeback and claim a 4-2 win in the weekend and tournament finale.
Western Carolina (12-11) returns home to open a 13-game homestand on Tuesday, March 11, with a doubleheader against North Carolina Central at the Catamount Softball Complex. The two teams open the midweek doubleheader at 2 p.m., with game two to follow at 4 p.m. Both games will have live stats available on CatamountSports.com.
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