CONWAY, S.C. – Veronica Berrie’s RBI single in the top of the ninth inning gave third-seeded Winthrop a 4-3 victory in nine innings over second-seeded Liberty, in the fifth game of the 2010 Big South Softball Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting Thursday at Coastal Carolina Softball Field in Conway, S.C. The Lady Eagle’s will advance to face the No. 1 seed Radford on Friday at 2 pm, while the Lady Flames’s advances to game 10 of the tournament and will await an opponent for a game at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
After Winthrop scored in the top of the ninth on the Berrie single, Liberty put the tying run at third base after a sacrifice. With one out Meredith Baisden hit a ground ball to Pearl Coleshill at third base and as pinch-runner Danielle Howard tried to score, Coleshill spun and threw her out at the plate to preserve the lead.
Lauren Levin put Winthrop ahead 3-2 in the top of the eighth as her single up the middle plated Pearl Coleshill, who was placed at second base to start the inning due to the international tie-breaking rule. Coleshill was sacrificed to third to start the inning and scored easily on the second.
Liberty answered right back in the bottom of the eighth inning as J’nae Jefferson scored on a single to center by Kelly Strickland with one out.
Veronica Berrie gave Winthrop a 2-0 lead when she singled to left field with one out, scoring Ashlee Revell. It was the second run of the game for Revell as she reached on a line drive single that bounced off the pitcher. Winthrop loaded the bases with one out, but Big South Pitcher of the Year Tiffani Smith replaced Katrina Johnson in the circle and got the Lady Flames out of the inning without further damage.
Winthrop took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning as Lenny Stoddart singled between third base and the shortstop to score Revell, who reached base on a single down the left field line.
Liberty’s Cassie Hendrix led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a home run to right field to cut the lead in half at 2-1. J’nae Jefferson followed with a single to right to keep things going and Liberty did just that. After Jefferson was sacrificed to second base, Ashley Bensinger hit a soft fly ball to left center, but three Winthrop players running toward the ball could not make the play and Bensinger had an RBI double as Jefferson scored.
Revell finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Berrie finished 2-for-4 with two RBI. Lenny Stoddart also had two hits and an RBI.
Cari Wooldridge earned the win on the mound for Winthrop as she pitched three innings of relief allowing no earned runs on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts as she improves to 16-14. Megan Evans started the game and pitched solid allowing two runs on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts in six innings.
Jefferson was 2-for-4 with two runs while Amber DePasquale and Hendrix each had two hits.
Smith took the loss for the Lady Flames as she falls to 19-7 after allowing no earned runs on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Johnson allowed one earned run on six hits with two walks and a strikeout in three and one-third innings.