ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop softball will face its first Big South Conference road test as it heads to Conway, SC this weekend to take on Coastal Carolina in a three-game series beginning on Friday, Mar. 27.
Winthrop comes into the series with a 12-16 overall record and 1-2 league mark as the series opens at 6 p.m. Friday with a single-game. The series will wrap-up on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
The Eagles have lost four straight to the Chanticleers with the last win coming in the 2013 Big South Tournament with a 4-3 victory to advance to the tournament championship game. This will be the Eagles first trip to Conway, SC as the last two seasons the series has been played in Rock Hill. Since the conference moved to three-game series in 2007 the Eagles are 12-12 against Coastal Carolina in regular season meetings.
Last weekend the Eagles opened league play against Longwood, losing a competitive series after winning game one 4-2. The Eagles were without the services of the team's top hitter in sophomore
Maddie Antone as she ruled out for the series with an injury. The second-year shortstop is batting .388 with 23 runs, nine doubles, three home runs, and 20 RBI in 25 games played.
Antone's replacement at short was redshirt sophomore
Haley Zuehlke, who was 3-for-6 with a run and RBI against Longwood. Her replacement in the batting order was first baseman
Leah Young, who moved up from fifth to third and finished the weekend 4-for-11 with three runs and an RBI. On the year, Zuehlke is batting .275 with six runs and nine RBI while Young is batting .284 with 20 runs and 15 RBI. Antone's return this weekend is uncertain. Zuehlke in 2013 was 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI against the Chanticleers.
Sophomore
Paige Haley is still second on the team in batting at .338 with 14 runs and 10 RBI. Senior's
Sara Allen and
Kelsey Ritter have also been solid at the plate. Allen is third on the team with a .326 average with four runs and 10 RBI while Ritter is batting .311 with 16 runs and 19 RBI. Haley also threw out three of five runners attempting to steal in the Longwood series and has now thrown a runner out in four straight games. Allen is 6-for-15 with a run and two RBI in her career against Coastal. Ritter was 3-for-10 with a home run in last year's meeting.
Junior
Dallas King returned from injury last week to make one appearance as she started game two of Longwood series and tossed 5.2 innings allowing three runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts in her first appearance since Mar. 7. She is questionable to pitch this weekend.
King is 1-6 on the year but boasts the team's top ERA at 2.41 with 44 strikeouts and 41 walks in 52.1 innings. Allen is 7-5 on the year with a 4.41 ERA and
Sutton Watson is 3-5 with a 4.37 ERA.
Coastal enters the game with a 15-15 record and a 3-2 league mark after taking two games from Campbell last weekend. The series was cut short to two games due to weather. The Chanticleers have won two straight and are in the middle of a seven-game home stand.
As of March 26, Coastal Carolina is third in the league in batting at .299 and sixth in pitching just behind Winthrop with a team ERA of 4.09. Winthrop is fourth with a 3.98 team ERA. As team they have 45 home runs, which leads the league by more than 10. The Eagles are fourth in the league in extra base hits with 63 while Coastal leads the league with 83.
Morgan Noad leads the Chanticleers with a .410 average with 26 runs, nine home runs and 27 RBI. So far she's batting .533 with five runs, two homers and seven RBI in five league games. Kory Hayden is batting .384 with 18 runs, eight home runs and 24 RBI. Hayden has three home runs in five league games. In Noad's career against Winthrop, she's 8-for-24 with six runs, a double, two homers, four walks and seven RBI. Hayden is 12-for-39 lifetime against the Eagles with a double, two home runs, five runs, and six walks.
Kiana Quolas leads the team with wins at 8-9 as she sports a 4.24 ERA with 45 strikeouts to 31 walks in 94.0 innings. She's also having a good year at the plate with a .341 average to go along with 16 runs, four home runs and 20 RBI. Kelsey Dominik is 6-4 on the year with a 2.82 ERA with 40 strikeouts to 28 walks.
