After facing Campbell and Longwood in the first two conference series of the season, Winthrop’s softball team played host to the Binghamton Bearcats on March 22 and 23. In what was a three-game, non-conference series, the Lady Eagles earned two wins and one loss.
It was not a good start for the Eagles, as they lost the opening game 7-2. After the Bearcats got on the board with three runs in the second inning, Winthrop responded with a two-run homer from junior Ashley Westbrooks, which was her first home run of the season.
Binghamton scored three more in the fifth and another in the seventh, and Winthrop had no answer. Madyson Watson, a junior, earned five strikeouts but allowed three runs on five hits and two walks, giving her the loss to make her record 5-3.
Game two of the series once again got off to a shaky start as the Bearcats took a 5-0 lead. The Eagles showed up in the bottom of the third, as Ashley Westbrooks hit a three-run bomb, her second home run of the series. Senior Blake Wallert also scored in the third, making the Eagles deficit only one run.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth, it was none other than Ashley Westbrooks to come to the plate. For the third time in the series, Westbrooks put the ball over the fence, giving the Eagles an 8-5 lead.
Winthrop scored three more unanswered to win game two 11-5. Senior Kiley Majette earned the win, throwing five strikeouts and allowing only one run on seven hits and three walks through 5.2 innings pitched.
The third game was almost completely controlled by Winthrop, as the Eagles scored one run in each of the first two innings. When Binghamton recorded two runs in the fourth, Winthrop replied with two of their own in the fifth.
As insurance, the Eagles scored three more runs in the sixth, including a two-run shot by Ashley Westbrooks, her fourth home run of the series. Madyson Watson earned the win by pitching a complete game with six strikeouts and allowing only two runs on five hits and one walk.
Westbrooks ended the series with 12 RBI and a .600 batting average behind her four-home run effort, earning her Big South Player of the Week honors. “Being selected as Big South Player of the Week is such an amazing feeling. I’ve been struggling this year at the plate, and finally getting out of that slump definitely helped me continue hitting the ball hard all weekend,” Westbrooks said.
“This game is such a mental game and Coach Savannah has told me countless times that there is nothing physically wrong with my swing; it’s all mental and in my head. So this weekend, I just went into it thinking, ‘I’m going to hit the ball hard and eventually it’ll drop.’”
The Lady Eagles are now 3-3 at home and 2-4 in conference play.
“As conference play is starting to heat up, I really hope to continue being a leader on and off the field. Whether I’m in the box hitting, or at 3rd on defense, I hope to be the teammate that the rest of the players know they can count on to make a play or pick them up when they are down. Being able to rely on each other is key, and I hope that I can continue being that teammate for everybody around me,” Westbrooks said.
