ROCK HILL, SC— The softball team will try and bounce back from a series loss at Coastal Carolina last weekend as it heads to Boiling Springs, NC to take on Gardner-Webb Wednesday afternoon in a double-header starting at 2 p.m.
The Eagles took game one of the Coastal Carolina series, but dropped the next two and are now 12-24 on the year overall and drop to 2-6 in the Big South.
Wednesday's double-header marks the start an important week for the Eagle softball team as it will play six league games in five days in hopes of positioning itself better in the conference standings.
Currently the Eagles are in last, but have the opportunity to get to the middle and upper part of the standings with a good showing this week.
Winthrop and Gardner-Webb have both won three of its last five games except the Eagles have dropped two straight while the Runnin' Bulldogs have won two straight.
After scoring 26 runs in three games last week, Winthrop managed just one the next two.
Sophomore Chelsey Schoenfeldt continued to swing a hot bat as she extended her career-best hitting streak to 10 games. She had at least two hits in four of the five games last week and also hit her second grand slam of the season. She's raised her batting average 95 points starting with game two of the double-header at home against Georgia Tech on Mar. 22. During her streak she has seven extra base hits, 10 runs and 15 RBI. She is now batting .387, which ranks second in the Big South.
Senior Brittany Stoudemire has also been swinging a strong bat with a .400 average in the last 10 games and is now hitting .337 on the year. Over the last 10 games she has four extra base hits and eight RBI.
Megan Chapman, a junior shortstop, has also been hitting well at .400 over the last 10 games and has 11 runs in that span while driving in seven.
The Winthrop offense is batting .326 over the last 10 and averaging 5.5 runs while also allowing 5.5 runs.
Gardner-Webb enters the game with an 11-17 record overall, but is sitting in fourth place in the Big South with a 3-3 league mark.
The Runnin' Bulldogs are only averaging 2.8 runs per game, but are ranked third in the league in pitching and have won seven of their 11 games by two runs or less.
Samantha Meenaghan is the team leader in hitting at .337 and also has a team-high 16 runs. Morgan Baker is the only other hitting at .300 or better with a .329 average and team-high 15 RBI. She is also tied for the team lead in home runs with three.
Winthrop is likely to face two different pitchers on Wednesday as Jessica Childers and Cindy Boomhower have started 27 of the 28 games. Childers has 14 starts and a 7-7 record as she's posted a 2.77 ERA with 72 strikeouts and 31 walks. Boomhower is 4-9 on the year in 13 starts with a 3.05 ERA and 33 strikeouts to 16 walks.
Winthrop is 13-6 all-time against Gardner-Webb, but lost the last meeting 2-1 in nine innings on April 27, 2010 in Boiling Springs. All three meetings last season went extra innings with Winthrop capturing the double-header at home.
