Live Stats
ROCK HILL, SC-- The Winthrop softball team will look to improve on its 2-2 start when it heads to Athens, GA this weekend to participate in the 9th Annual Georgia Softball Classic hosted by the University of Georgia.
The tournament starts Friday as the Lady Eagles take part in the first two games, beginning at 9 a.m. against Western Illinois and followed by an 11 a.m. contest against Buffalo. Winthrop will face Tennessee Tech at 3 p.m. and Connecticut at 7 p.m. on Saturday and will wrap up the tournament on Sunday at 3 p.m. against the host Bulldogs.
Winthrop opened up the season last weekend at the Palmetto Classic and finished with wins over Cleveland State and Tennessee State.
Junior
Chelsey Schoenfeldt opened the season on a tear offensively with two hits in each game and finished the weekend 8-for-12. She also had a game-winning two-run home run in the eighth to help Winthrop to a 3-1 win over Tennessee State. Her efforts earned her Player of the Week honors in the Big South.
Senior
Megan Chapman and sophomore
McKenzi Corn also got off to good starts offensively. Chapman batted .444 with three runs, a triple, four walks and two stolen bases. Corn is riding a four-game hitting streak as she hit .400 with a team-best four runs and also had three walks.
Freshman pitcher
Sutton Watson had an impressive performance on Sunday in her first career start as she tossed a complete game (8 innings) allowing just one run on eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts in the win over Tennessee State.
Schoenfeldt had an impressive first start on Friday in the win over Cleveland State as she tossed 6.1 innings allowing one run on five hits with no walks and two strikeouts, but then struggled against South Carolina allowing four runs on five hits in 0.2 innings.
Winthrop will face a Western Illinois team that opened up the season 2-2 at the Iowa State Invitational as it had wins over North Dakota and Northern Iowa. Buffalo is off to a 2-3 start after opening the season at the Jacksonville Tournament with wins over UNC Greensboro and St. Louis. Tennessee Tech is off to a 1-4 starter after opening last weekend at the Florida State with the lone win coming against Stephen F. Austin. The Golden Eagles did have a couple of close losses against Ole Miss (6-3) and Florida State (5-2). This will be the first weekend of play for the University of Connecticut.
The host Bulldogs are off to a 4-1 start with wins over Campbell, St. John's, Army and Utah State. Georgia is currently ranked 14th in both Top 25 polls.
