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ROCK HILL, SC—After stepping away from Big South Conference action for its last 10 games, the Winthrop softball team jumps back in this weekend with a three-game series at Charleston Southern.

The series begins on Saturday, Mar. 23 with a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. and the rubber match on Sunday, Mar. 24 and 1 p.m. Winthrop enters the weekend at 13-14 overall and 1-2 in the league while Charleston Southern is 5-22 and 0-3 in the league after being swept by Longwood last weekend. Winthrop's first three games in league play were against Longwood as well.

Saturday's opening game of the series will mark the 89^th meeting between the Eagles and Buccaneers. Winthrop leads the all-time series 63-25, however, Charleston Southern has won the last seven meetings. Winthrop's last win over the Bucs came on Apr. 17, 2010 in an 11-0 victory to avoid being swept in a three-game series. In the seven straight losses, Winthrop has been outscored 36-12.

The last time Winthrop was in action, it split a doubleheader with Appalachian State at home. In the first game of the twin bill, senior Chelsey Schoenfeldt drove in five runs to help lead the team to a 10-4 win. In the process, Schoenfeldt moved up the ladder in a couple of categories on Winthrop's all-time list. Schoenfeldt hit her 8^th home run of the season, a career-best for her in a single-season, and moved alone in third on the all-time home run list with 24. The five RBI gave her 111 for her career, which ranks 6^th all-time.

Over the last five games, sophomore Kristy Noble has been just as hot from the plate as Schoenfeldt. Noble is batting .571 in that span and has matched Schoenfeldt's eight RBI over the course of the five games. In the last 10 games, Noble is batting .552 with nine runs, three doubles and 10 RBI. On Mar. 5 she was batting just .103 after the Big South opener against Longwood. Since she's raised her average 181 points to .284, which is third best among starters. McKenzi Corn has remained hot at the plate as she's batting a team-best .395 and .419 over the last 10 games.

Sophomore Sutton Watson, who missed the Appalachian State doubleheader with an illness, is expected to be in the pitching circle this weekend. Watson is 8-8 on the year with a 3.77 ERA. Freshman Dallas King will likely pitch as well as she's 3-1 on the year with five starts and 11 appearances while posting a 3.42 ERA. Junior Sara Allen, freshman Bradlee Holeman and Schoenfeldt will also be available.

The Bucs are led by Marci Christian and Stephanie Sbardella, who both lead the team with a .333 batting average. Christian leads the team with six home runs and 22 RBI while Sbardella leads the team with 19 runs and also has four home runs and 18 RBI. The duo has combined for exactly half of the team's 20 home runs this season.

The likely starter in the pitching circle is Jennifer Giles, who is 2-16 on the year in 24 appearances and 18 starts with an ERA of 5.16 in 119.1 innings. Linay Rother has tossed 40 innings with 13 appearances and eight starts and is 2-6.