ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop softball is set to host the Combat Invitational as it looks to end a five-game losing streak on Friday when it opens with Robert Morris.
The Eagles will host Robert Morris at 3 p.m. and the face Northern Colorado at 5 p.m. The remaining teams in the invitational will be Furman, Wagner, Gardner-Webb, and Cleveland State. Winthrop will face Cleveland State on Saturday at 3 p.m. and Wagner on Saturday at 5 p.m. Admission for the tournament will be $5 per day.
After a solid opening weekend to the 2014 season, Winthrop has struggled offensively over the past two weekends, having suffered shutouts in five of its last eight games and is now 3-10 on the year.
Maybe a few home games is just what the doctor ordered for the Eagles after 13 straight on the road to open the season. The Eagles return to Terry Field, where they will play their next 15 games. Winthrop averaged nearly five runs a game at home in 2013 and was shutout only three times in 29 games at Terry Field.
Senior
McKenzi Corn, who is currently riding a six-game hitting streak, is off to a solid start as she's batting .400 through 13 games with one extra base hit, a team-high five runs and also three RBI. Senior's
Alex White and
Mel Andrea have provided most of the runs batted in as White leads the team with six and Andrea has five. One major area of struggles has been at the top of the lineup as the 1-2 spot in the batting order is a combined 14-for-78 (.179 average) so far this season.
Winthrop has a lot of new faces in the lineup both in the field and batting as the players continue to battle for steady roles as starters. There have been 14 different players start 3 or more games and 17 players (not counting pitchers) have started in the field or at the designated player position so far.
The Eagles received three strong pitching performances last weekend, two of them turned in by
Sutton Watson and the other Sarah Allen. Watson was 0-2 and posted a 2.84 ERA is two starts and three appearances as she allowed five runs in 12.1 innings with 12 strikeouts to three walks. Allen pitched 5.2 innings as she allowed two earned runs on eight hits with no walks and five strikeouts, but the offense couldn't generate runs to support strong performances. Of the last 34 runs allowed over the last five games, 25 of them have come in two games.
Watson, Allen and
Dallas King are likely to make starts this weekend.
Winthrop is 3-2 in the last five home openers and 7-3 in the last 10. Winthrop opened up with a 5-0 loss to a tough Virginia squad last season. The Eagles captured seven of their first 11 home games last season with the losses coming to Virginia, Georgia, and Longwood twice.
Scouting Winthrop's opponents:
Robert Morris: Enters with a 9-4 record having won five straight. Two of its four losses came against 12
th-ranked UCLA (9-0 and 3-2). Averaging 3.6 runs per game and led by Tess Apke batting .368 with seven runs, four doubles, two home runs and nine RBI. Haileigh Stocks 2
nd on team in batting with .344 average and has four runs and four RBI. Pitcher Nicole Sleith is 5-2 with a 0.57 ERA with 48 strikeouts to 12 walks on the year. Geena Badolato is second on the team in innings pitched with 27.0 and is 2-2 and has 19 strikeouts to seven walks. Robert Morris won all five games at the Green & White Tournament at Charlotte last weekend. This is the first ever meeting with Robert Morris.
Northern Colorado: Enters the game at 2-13 on the year and has lost eight straight (five of which have been by three runs or less. Will be the Bear's third trip east this season as they opened the season at Georgia Southern and played in a tournament in Oxford, MS last week on the campus of Ole Miss. Roster has 10 upperclassmen and five freshmen (no sophomores). Mikayla Duffy has best average on team at .333 and has played in all 15 games. Duffy also has five runs, four doubles, two home runs and seven RBI. Erica Dick is second on the team at .310 with four runs and five RBI. Megan Wilkinson leads the team in runs (8) and RBI (8). Wilkinson is also the top pitcher on the team having thrown a team-high 39.1 innings and is 2-6 on the year. She has 17 strikeouts to 10 walks. Duffy has thrown the second most at 18 innings and is 0-4. This is the first ever meeting with Northern Colorado.
Cleveland State: Enters with a 4-4 record having lost two straight as it also participated in the Green & White Tournament at Charlotte last weekend. Has two players batting .400 or better with Cynthia Woodard (.435) and Katelind Phillips (.400). Woodard has four runs and a team-high six RBI while Phillips has three runs and three RBI. Susan Knight is only batting .174 but has scored four runs and has two home runs and is second in RBI with five. Knight has thrown the most innings for the Vikings with 27.0 as she is 1-3 on the year with 15 strikeouts to five walks. Sara Shields is 2-1 on the year with a 1.94 ERA and 24 strikeouts to six walks. The last meeting came on Feb. 10, 2012 in the Eagles season-opener in Columbia, SC as the Eagles won 3-1. Winthrop holds a 4-3 record all-time against Cleveland State.
Wagner: Opened up the 2014 season last weekend in Norfolk, VA as it captured two wins and ended the weekend with a 14-2 loss to Delaware State. Opened the season with wins over Yale and Norfolk State. T. Beeson and K. Parker are each batting .500 through three games. Beeson has five runs in three games with three doubles. Parker has five RBI and four runs. S. Bedker started two of the three games as she's off to a 1-1 start with 10 strikeouts to four walks in 12 innings of work. M. Goodale went seven innings in her only start allowing four runs (one earned) on 11 hits as she earned the victory over Norfolk State. This is the first ever meeting with Wagner.
