FARMVILLE, Va. — Winthrop broke open a tie game in the top of the seventh with five runs and held on for a 9-5 win to open its Big South Conference series with the Longwood softball team at Bank of the James Park on Friday.
The league-leading Eagles scored the go-ahead run when, with runners on first and second and one out, Tabitha Perry laid down a sacrifice bunt to third base and Sophia Knock threw the ball away, allowing Grayson Buckner to come home. Emma Roberson followed with a sac bunt of her own to second and Carli Pearson beat the play at the the plate to make it 6-4.
After a Rebecca Amos walk, Peyton Bryden lined a home run over the center-field wall a for 9-4 score.
The Lancers got a run back in the bottom of the frame, but Winthrop (25-19, 10-3 Big South earned the win, its sixth consecutive over Longwood.
"Leverage and opportunities," Longwood head coach Dr. Megan Brown said. "That is what winning requires. We did not do that tonight. We have a long day of hard work ahead of us tomorrow, but long days and hard work is what we all signed up for."
Maggie Chapin started for Longwood (21-28, 7-6) and was strong, going six innings, scattering six hits with five strikeouts, before running out of gas. She held the Eagles hitless 2 2/3 innings before a Bryden single.
Morgan Strickland (4-7) and Cierra Gawryluk pitched the seventh.
Longwood took a 4-0 lead through the first inning, sending eight batters to the plate, collecting four hits. With two out and the bases loaded in the stanza, Bailey Bucholz came through with a double down the right-field line to score Ava Abromavage, Maggie Hiatt and Knock.
Sophia Pisacano followed with a single to center field off of Emmy Cardenas, scoring Bucholz.
Winthrop tallied two runs in the third, one in the fifth and one more more in the sixth for the tie.
Lonna Addison (16-6) earned the win out of the bullpen for Winthrop, limiting the Lancers to two hits and one unearned run in the final five innings. She struck out three.
Bryden went 2-for-5 with three RBIs out of the No. 2 spot in the lineup while Tia Beckham also collected two hits in four at-bats. The Eagles finished with seven safeties on the night.
Hiatt paced eight-hit Longwood offense with two hits and three runs scored.
The teams close the series with a 1 p.m., doubleheader on Saturday. Prior to the first game of the day, Longwood will honors its four seniors — Chapin, Knock, Strickland and Kate Westmiller.
