A taste of winter accompanied the home opener and the ensuing games as Terry Field welcomed seven teams at the Winthrop Tournament.
Eastern Kentucky University, University of Virginia, Georgetown University, College of the Holy Cross, and Towson University each took on Winthrop during the three-day tournament.
The Eagles’ Valentine’s Day matchups included contests against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels and the Virginia Cavaliers.
The home team battled Eastern Kentucky first in a 3:00 p.m. battle.
After hitting one home run in the first inning, the Colonels would go on to hit two more homers — scoring three other runs by way of runners batted in throughout the game as well.
“The first game was a tough one because we had a rough start, obviously,” said Madyson Watson, senior pitcher.
The slow start would prove to stun the Eagles, and they would fall 6-1, the lone Eagle score coming in the seventh inning by way of Isabella Clark hitting a single that enabled Dallas Singleton to advance to home plate
About 50 minutes separated the Eagles’ first game against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels from their second game against the Virginia Cavaliers.
The Atlantic Coast Conference entered the season ranked 11th in their powerhouse conference.
“We’re going to come out and make sure the ACC knows who we are, even though we’re a small team, it doesn’t matter who we play,” Watson said about the discussion before the game against Virginia.
In their pristine white uniforms, the Eagles failed to let the name or conference defeat them.
Virginia hit the first homer of the game, batting in two runners for a quick two points.
Winthrop followed behind quickly with 2 homers, from Tori Walker and Taylor Charlton, respectively. From these sluggers, three runners were batted in, bringing the score to 3-2, Winthrop.
The Eagles secured a victory over the Cavaliers in the fifth inning, with a second homer from Walker to left field, batting one runner in to home plate.
The young Winthrop team split their Valentine’s Day showdowns, ending day one of the home tournament at 1-1.
“It’s definitely important to encourage each other at this point because we are so young,” Watson said.
The second day came with a temperature drop of about 10 degrees, but that did not stop the Eagles from coming out hot.
The Georgetown Hoyas would score first off a home run, but Winthrop came out swinging quickly.
The home team’s first two scores followed a double from Ashley Westbrooks, running in Ashton Vanhouse and Aisha Weixlmann during the third inning.
With the score at 2-1, Lauren King stepped to the plate during the fourth inning, hit a single up the middle of the diamond, running in Singleton.
Singleton would reach home plate from second base, capping the game’s scoring.
“It was really exciting to see the team go out there and play together as a unit,” said Morgan Ayers, sophomore catcher and outfielder.
A key highlight of the game came from freshman pitcher Weixlmann, who tallied eight strikeouts, while allowing a single run with no walks.
Winthrop’s second game of the day had a late start, but it did not stall the Eagles high performance.
Prior to the game, Ayers commented that she hoped that they went out and played hard to win the next game, and the Eagles did just that.
In a shutout match-up against the Holy Cross Crusaders, Winthrop scored eight points.
The lone homer of the game came in the third inning and was sent into left center field by Westbrooks. All other scores came by way of runners batted in.
The final day of the Winthrop Tournament included a rainy day showdown between the Winthrop Eagles and the Towson Tigers.
After going scoreless in the first inning, Winthrop would then score for four straight innings — making the score 8-7, Towson.
The home runs for the day came from the Eagles’ heavy hitters Walker and Charlton in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively.
Following the fifth inning, the Eagles just could not get anyone else home and dropped the final match of the tournament 11-7.
The Eagles went 3-2 over the duration of the home tournament.
Watson said this Winthrop team looks to continue coming together more as a team and staying encouraged throughout the season’s highs and lows.
The next contest at Terry Field will be on March 4 at 4 p.m. against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.
Photo provided by Winthrop Athletics
