ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball steps away from Big South Conference play when it travels to Columbia, SC Tuesday evening for a 6 p.m. contest at South Carolina.
Winthrop has won three straight and five of its last seven games as it enters the game with a 22-19 overall mark. South Carolina is coming off a 2-1 series win at Arkansas and are now 28-15 overall.
This will mark the 55
th meeting between Winthrop and South Carolina as the Gamecocks lead the series 45-8-1 and captured a 12-2 win in the last meeting on Mar. 28, 2012 at Terry Field.
Winthrop is coming off a 2-1 victory over Gardner-Webb, which gave them the regular season series sweep.
The Eagles are led by seniors
McKenzi Corn,
Mel Andrea and
Alex White as they are three of the top four batters on the team. Corn, who has reached base in nine straight games, leads the team and is second in the Big South with a .437 average as she also has 28 runs and 23 RBI. Andrea is batting .318 and leads the team with six home runs and 30 RBI. White is batting .315 along with a team-high 12 doubles and also 24 RBI.
Two freshmen have really made an impact this season as
Maddie Antone is sixth in the Big South with a .369 average and second on the team with five home runs.
Megan Winningham has been on a tear in league play and has her average up to .291 as she has four home runs and 23 RBI on the year.
Winthrop has a couple of ways it could go for its starting pitcher against the Gamecocks Tuesday night as senior
Sara Allen and junior
Sutton Watson have done the bulk of the pitching this season. Allen is 9-9 on the year with a 2.84 ERA with 109 strikeouts in 120.2 innings of work. Watson is 9-5 with a 3.29 ERA and has 71 strikeouts to 27 walks in 78.2 innings pitched.
Ashlyn Masters leads the Gamecocks with a .386 average and 36 runs while Kaylea Snaer is tied for the team-lead in home runs with eight and has a team-high 35 RBI. Sarah Mooney also has eight home runs as she's driven in 25 this season. Second on the team in batting with a .338 average is Codee Yeske.
South Carolina has relied heavily on two pitchers this season in Julie Sarratt and Nickie Blue. Sarratt has a 13-9 record with a 2.77 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 124 innings while Blue is 15-6 with a 2.94 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 126 innings.
