ROCK HILL, SC—After 10 days without a game, the Winthrop softball team is ready to get back on the field as it heads to Columbia, SC Wednesday evening for a 7 p.m. contest against South Carolina.
The Eagles last played on Saturday, April 23 as they wrapped up Big South Conference regular season games in a double-header loss at Radford. Winthrop has lost seven of the last eight games after it had won six of the previous nine. Winthrop finished with a 5-13 conference record and await for the remainder of the teams to finish up their league games this weekend and find out the seeds for next week's championship.
The game wasn't originally on the schedule as the two teams have already faced each other twice this season, but the game was added last week due the teams having an open date. Winthrop lost three games due to bad weather.
The five conference wins are the fewest for the Eagles since 2003 when they were 4-8, but also the fewest wins in conference since 1997 for 16 or more league games. In 1997 the Eagles were 2-14 and did not qualify for the conference tournament. The 13 league losses are the second most all-time by a Winthrop squad with the most coming in 1997.
There is just over a week to get ready for the Big South Tournament and the team will begin its preparation for a run at the title against a South Carolina team that is 25-27 overall and losers of three straight games.
Winthrop won the first meeting of the season, 5-2, at South Carolina on Feb. 16 as Natalie Becker had one of her best pitching performances of the season. The Eagles broke a tie in the sixth inning with three runs as Veronica Berrie and Teja Durante each had RBI hits.
On Mar. 2 in Rock Hill, SC the Gamecocks handed Winthrop a 6-1 loss as they scored five runs over the final two innings to break a 1-1 tie. An RBI single by Kaitlin Westfall proved to be the game-winning hit.
Berrie brings a four-game hitting streak to the game and Chelsey Schoenfeld continues her chase for .400. The sophomore is leading the Big South with a .383 average and is trying to become just the sixth player in school history to finish a season with a .400 or better batting average.
Lauren Lackey leads South Carolina with a .354 batting average as she is one of a couple of speedy players on the roster. She has 24 runs, two doubles, three triples and is 14-for-14 on stolen bases. Samie Garcia is second on the team with a .324 average and leads the team with 30 runs to go along with seven doubles, three triples, three homers and is 15-for-19 on stolen bases.
South Carolina has rotated its starting pitching between three players, which all have similar numbers. Ashley Chastain has 13 starts with a team-best 2.90 earned run average while Audrey Broyles has a 2.91 ERA in 21 starts. Julie Sarratt has a 3.21 ERA in 15 starts and the only pitcher on the staff without a losing record at 8-8.
South Carolina leads the all-time series 47-10-1 and is 5-1 against the Big South Conference this season.
