ROCK HILL, SC-- The Eagle softball team has been tabbed as the favorite to capture the Big South Conference crown this season, announced by the league office on Thursday.
Winthrop received 10 of 12 first place votes, finishing 10 points ahead of Radford. Coastal Carolina just edged Liberty for third place while Birmingham-Southern was fifth and Charleston Southern sixth. The Eagles return six starters on a team that won a school record 50 games in 2007.
Junior Lisa Kingsmore was voted as the preseason Player of the Year. Kingsmore started all 68 games last season and hit .401 with 43 runs, 89 hits, 12 doubles and 34 RBI. She was a 2007 All-Big South First Team selection as well as a Louisville Slugger First Team All-Region pick. She was also named an ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-American.
"While being the number one pick for the season is an honor, it does not score runs or produce wins," said head coach Mark Cooke, who is just 11 wins away from 600 in his career. "We have to do that on the field. This year I feel that there are four legitimate teams that can win the conference and produce big wins out of conference.
Our conference was the 12th ranked conference out of 31 conferences last year with some terrific wins over Big 10, Big East, ACC, Southeastern conferences," added Cooke. "This will make for an exciting conference season again this year."
Winthrop earned its first ever NCAA Regional berth last season and eventually fell to Tennessee on the final day of the tournament after defeated Furman and North Carolina. Winthrop also snagged victories over Georgia, Middle Tennessee, Purdue, Western Kentucky and Wisconsin. Winthrop had 13 wins against teams in the top 94 RPI (out of 277 teams). This years schedule includes six nationally ranked teams (in the preseason polls) and seven opponents receiving votes for the national polls.
Rk Team (first-place votes) 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points
1. Winthrop (10) 60 5 -- 3 -- -- 68
2. Radford (1) 6 40 12 -- -- -- 58
3. Coastal Carolina -- 5 20 15 2 -- 42
4. Liberty (1) 6 5 8 15 6 -- 40
5. Birmingham-Southern -- 5 8 -- 8 5 26
6. Charleston Southern -- -- -- 3 6 8 17
