ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball will look to capture its third straight win Wednesday evening when it hosts Gardner-Webb at 6 p.m. at Terry Field.
The game is the final of a three-game regular season series that was split into two dates as the Eagles claimed a doubleheader sweep of the Runnin' Bulldogs on April 1. A victory would give the Eagles a season sweep, which would be the second straight season they earned a sweep of Gardner-Webb.
Winthrop is coming off back-to-back wins to earn a 2-1 series win at Campbell over the weekend as it managed 21 runs on 19 hits in the last two games and is now 21-19 overall and 9-8 in the Big South. The Eagles dropped the first game of the Campbell series, which was their ninth straight loss in the all-time series.
Over the last week, Winthrop is 4-1 and has averaged 7.2 runs per game with production coming up-and-down the lineup. Leadoff batter
Naomi Stevens is hitting .375 the last week with five runs and three RBI while posting a .474 on-base percentage.
Megan Winningham batted .333 with three runs and three RBI.
McKenzi Corn, who bats third, finished the week with a team-high eight RBI as she also scored five runs while batting .571.
The Eagles 4-5-6 batters on the week combined to bat .302 on the week with 11 runs scored and 10 RBI. Toward the bottom of the order have been
Maddie Antone,
Paige Haley and the Eagles starting pitchers
Sara Allen and
Sutton Watson. Antone batted .417 with five runs and four RBI while Haley batted .231 but had two runs and three RBI. Allen and Watson were a combined 4-for-10 with three runs and three RBI.
On the week the Eagles had 45 hits with nearly half of them for extra bases (11 doubles, triple, eight home runs).
With the productive week Corn, Winningham, and Ritter had, they reached the 20 RBI mark of the season, as Winthrop now has five players with 21 or more RBI and Antone is closing in with 17.
Corn still leads the team in batting average as she raised it to .444 while Antone improved her average to .378. Corn ranks second in the Big South while Antone is ranked fifth.
In the two wins over Gardner-Webb on April 1, the Eagles had two impressive pitching performances by Allen and Watson. Allen tossed a complete game six innings allowing a run on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts while Watson tossed a one-hit shutout with a walk and eight strikeouts in seven innings. Either one could get the start but the Eagles will hope for another strong outing no matter which one gets the start.
Winthrop took game one by scoring three runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings for a 9-1 victory and followed that up with a 6-0 win in the nightcap. The second game was 3-0 in the sixth until Corn ripped a three-run home run to right in the bottom of the sixth.
Gardner-Webb enters the game looking to end a seven-game losing streak, its longest of the season. The Runnin' Bulldogs lost three straight at home to Longwood last weekend and are now 11-28 overall and 1-10 in the league.
The Runnin' Bulldogs are led by Samantha Meenaghan, who leads the league with 56 hits and is ranked third in the Big South with a .427 average and a team-high 19 runs and 15 RBI. Kellie Beres is also tied for the team-lead in RBI with 15. Meenaghan and Megan Champion are 2-for-6 against the Eagles this season. Champion is batting .260 on the year and third on the team with 13 RBI.
In the circle could be one of two players for Gardner-Webb as Jessica Childers enters the game having thrown a team-high 132 innings and is 7-15 with a 3.45 ERA. Ashley Rhyne is 3-12 on the year with a 5.03 ERA and has tossed 80.2 innings.
After winning the first two meetings this season, Winthrop is now Winthrop is 22-8 all-time against Gardner-Webb but the last three wins by the Runnin' Bulldogs in the series have come at Terry Field.
