ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball has won three straight Big South Conference games and five of the last six as it heads to Liberty for a three-game series this weekend beginning with a doubleheader on Friday starting at 2 p.m.
The first game of the doubleheader on Friday will mark the 64
th meeting all-time between Winthrop and Liberty as the two teams will wrap-up the series with the final game on Saturday at 2 p.m. Winthrop leads the all-time series 34-29 and has won three straight and five of the last six meetings.
Winthrop enters the game at 22-20 overall and 10-8 in the league as it is coming off a non-conference 4-2 loss at South Carolina Tuesday evening. Liberty enters the series at 6-38 overall and 1-17 in the Big South.
Through 18 league games, Winthrop is batting .310 as a team and scoring 5.6 runs per game. Several players on the team are putting up solid numbers against Big South competition. Senior
McKenzi Corn is batting .462 with 13 runs, five doubles, two home runs and 10 RBI with a .569 on-base percentage. Freshman
Maddie Antone is batting .444 with 10 runs and eight RBI while another freshman,
Megan Winningham, is leading the team with 19 RBI in 18 league games played. Winningham is also batting .339 with a team-high 14 runs and four homers. Antone has been impressive in league games batting .500 with runners in scoring position and four of her 10 RBI in league play coming with two outs.
Corn had a streak of reaching base come to an end at nine games on Tuesday in the loss at South Carolina but that streak remains in league games only as junior
Naomi Stevens has reached base in eight straight conference games.
Winthrop has also received solid contributions offensively from seniors
Alex White and
Mel Andrea along with junior
Kelsey Ritter. White is batting .333 with eight runs and 15 RBI while Andrea is batting .306 with 10 runs and nine RBI. Ritter has five home runs in league play and 11 RBI.
The starting pitchers for the Eagles will be senior
Sara Allen and junior
Sutton Watson. Allen is 5-5 in league play with a 3.18 ERA and 57 strikeouts in 61.2 innings. Watson is 4-2 against the league with a 3.30 ERA and 34 strikeouts to nine walks in 29.2 innings.
Liberty is coming off a loss at Virginia Tech and has now dropped 10 straight as it looks to end that skid against the Eagles.
Leading the Flames in batting is senior Katie Zavodny with a .336 average and 29 runs. She is also 22-for-28 on the bases, which is tied for second most in the Big South Conference. Last season she was 8-for-12 with four runs and an RBI in three games against the Eagles.
Hanna Nichols is batting .298 with 13 runs and 13 RBI while Kelby Allen leads the team with 25 RBI and Megan Robinson is second with 22 RBI.
Liberty's pitching features Alyssa DiMartino and Annah Jo Brittingham. DiMartino is 3-15 on the year with a 6.65 ERA and 25 strikeouts to 39 walks in 106.1 innings. Brittingham has the most work in the pitching circle with 121.2 innings as she is 2-18 with a 6.62 ERA with 62 strikeouts and 78 walks.
