ROCK HILL, SC—The Winthrop softball team will host the Winthrop Invitational this weekend with the action starting Friday, Mar. 6 at 2 p.m. against Albany on Terry Field.
The Eagles will be in action on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Western Carolina Saturday, Mar. 7 and will then face Furman at 5 p.m. Winthrop will wrap-up its weekend schedule on Sunday, Mar. 8 with Belmont at noon and Furman at 2 p.m.
The Eagles have won three straight and four of the last five games as they enter the weekend at 8-9. Winthrop has battled through the first month of the season against good competition and over the last two weeks the pitching staff has stepped started to find its form.
In the last seven games the team is 4-3 with an ERA of 3.40 allowing just 42 hits (eight extra base) in 45 innings with 35 strikeouts and 13 walks. Junior
Dallas King has not allowed an earned run since a relief appearance at Auburn. King has gone the last 23.2 innings without allowing an earned run as the only run against her came in extra innings in a 1-0 loss to Pittsburgh. Over that stretch she's 1-1 with 22 strikeouts to four walks. Senior Sarah Allen is 2-1 in the last seven games while senior
Sutton Watson is 1-1.
Offensively the Eagles have been hitting the ball well all season. The team is batting .300 and averaging 6.2 runs per game. The Eagles have 33 doubles, seven triples and eight home runs out of 105 hits. Leading the way offensive is sophomore
Maddie Antone with a .463 average and a team-high 20 runs. Antone is also tied for the team lead in RBI with 15. Senior
Kelsey Ritter is batting .370 with 14 runs, seven doubles and tied with Antone with 15 RBI. Allen is enjoying her finest season at the plate as she's third on the team with a .355 average and has nine RBI. Sophomore
Paige Haley has been solid all season and even more impressive since moving to the leadoff role. In the last 11 games Haley has led off and is batting .343 with nine runs and an on-base percentage of .425.
The Eagles take on an Albany team that is 3-2 so far and batting .292 as a team (4.2 runs per game). Elizabeth Snow leads the team with a .429 average as she's got four runs, a home run and three RBI. Leading the team in RBI with four is Alexa Toole as she's hitting .333. Vicky McFarland leads the team with five runs scored as she's also batting .333 and is 4-for-4 stealing bases.
Four different pitchers have made starts in the first five games as Devin Durando tossed a complete game shutout in her only appearance allowing two hits with 12 strikeouts to four walks. Erynn Sobieski is also 1-0 with two appearances with a 1.56 ERA and seven strikeouts to two walks in nine innings.
Western Carolina is 4-8 on the year and coming off two losses at USC Upstate. The Catamounts have faced a very good schedule early on and of their eight losses they have a one-run loss to North Carolina and a two-run loss to South Carolina. Abigail Daniels leads Western Carolina with a .316 average in 11 games played and six starts. Courtney Price has started all 12 games and is batting .303 with seven runs, a home run and eight RBI.
The Catamounts pitching staff is led by Taylor Sigmon and Jordan Garrett, who have combined to pitch 59.2 innings of the team's 75. Sigmon has one start and eight appearances with a 2.19 ERA and 26 strikeouts to six walks in just 16 innings. Garrett is 3-4 on the year and has nine starts with a 2.24 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 43.2 innings.
Belmont is 5-7 on the year and averaging 4.3 runs per game on the year. Chelsey Deloney leads the team with a .440 average and has six runs and a team-high eight RBI. Jessica Wilson leads the team with nine runs and tied for second in RBI with seven.
Taylor Moon has eight appearances and six starts with a team-best 4.69 ERA as she's 2-4 on the year with 25 strikeouts to six walks in 40.1 innings. Carolyn Snodgrass, Katie Clancy and Shelby Willard each have made two starts with Snodgrass tossing the most innings of the group with 15.1.
Furman is off to a good start at 8-3 and has won five of the last six games. The Paladins are 2-0 against teams from the Big South this season as they swept Radford in a season-opening doubleheader. The Paladins are batting .258 as a team and averaging 4.6 runs per game. Sieara Bishop leads the team with a .364 batting average and a team-high nine RBI. Ambree Muller is batting .297 with six runs and seven RBI while Andrea Abbatiello leads the team with eight runs.
Lindsey Bert has seven starts and eight appearances as she's 5-2 on the year with a 2.66 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 44.2 innings. Alex Sappington is 2-1 on the year with a 4.15 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 28.2 innings.
