ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop softball won nine of its final 10 games to finish third in the Big South Conference standings and earn the third seed in this week's conference championship in Buies Creek, NC.
Winthrop will take on sixth-seeded Presbyterian College in the first round on Thursday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the game will play at 4:30 p.m. on Friday against the winner of second-seeded Coastal Carolina and seventh-seeded Campbell. This is the highest seed for the Eagles since 2010 when they were seeded third and reached the conference championship game.
All games will be played at Amanda Littlejohn Stadium on the campus of Campbell University.
The 2015 Softball Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting begins Thursday, May 7 with five games scheduled and concludes with a "winner-take-all" Championship contest on Sunday, May 10 at 2:00pm. All games May 7-8 will be carried on the Big South Network. ESPN3 will air 2-4 games on Saturday, May 9 as well as Sunday's Championship game. The Big South's champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Softball Championship. In-game statistics will be available on www.BigSouthSports.com and www.gocamels.com.
The Conference Championship schedule is as follows and is subject to change.
Thursday, May 7 (Games 1-5)Game 1: No. 8 Radford vs. No. 9 Gardner-Webb, 9:00am (single elimination)
Game 2: No. 4 Liberty vs. No. 5 Charleston Southern, 12:00pm
Game 3: No. 1 Longwood vs. Radford/Gardner-Webb Winner, 2:30pm
Game 4: No. 2 Coastal Carolina vs. No. 7 Campbell, 5:00pm
Game 5: No. 3 Winthrop vs. No. 6 Presbyterian College, 7:30pm
Friday, May 8 (Games 6-11)Game 6: Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 3, 9:00am
Game 7: Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 5, 11:30am
Game 8: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3, 2:00pm
Game 9: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 4:30pm
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8, 7:00pm
Game 11: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 9, 9:30pm
Saturday, May 9 (Games 12-13 [14-15])Game 12: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 10:00am (TV: ESPN3)
Game 13: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 11, 12:30pm (TV: ESPN3)
Game 14: if necessary, 5:00pm ** (TV: ESPN3)Game 15: if necessary, 7:30pm ** (TV: ESPN3)Sunday, May 10 (Championship Game)TBA vs. TBA, 2:00pm (TV: ESPN3)
** - Game 14 will be necessary if the winner of Game 10 defeats the winner of Game 9. Game 15 will be necessary if the winner of Game 11 defeats the winner of Game 8. If both games are played, they will both be played on Saturday.
