ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball heads to Athens, GA for the 9th Red & Black Showcase as it faces Elon Friday afternoon in the season opener.
SERIES HISTORY WITH ELONWinthrop and Elon square off for the 22nd and 23rd time as the Eagles hold a 14-7 advantage in the all-time series. These two teams last met in the 2013 at the Red & Black Showcase as the Eagles bounced back from losing their season opener to defeat the Phoenix 4-1. In 2010 the Eagles dropped a doubleheader to Elon at home as they lost 6-3 and 8-6.
SERIES HISTORY GEORGIAWinthrop and Georgia meet for the 22
nd and 23
rd time as well as the Bulldogs own a 19-2 mark against the Eagles all-time. Two of the last four meetings between the two teams have been decided by two runs or less. Winthrop's last victory in the series came on Feb. 16, 2007 in an 8-6 victory over the 18
th-ranked Bulldogs. Since then, the Eagles have lost eight in a row to Georgia.
GAMES SNAPSHOT
SEASON OPENERSWinthrop has won two straight season openers and four of the last five. The Eagles opened the 2015 season with a 5-0 win over Illinois. All-time the Eagles are 27-15 all-time in season openers and 16-10 under Cooke.
KING OF THE STAFFSenior
Dallas King has far more experience on this year's pitching staff than anyone else and will be looked upon to lead the inexperienced group. Winthrop's pitching staff lost over 790 career innings pitched and 217 appearances from last season. King has 64 career appearances and 32 starts with a career ERA of 3.29. She's struck out 138 batters and walked 63 in 215 innings. Last season she had a career-best 29 innings pitched without allowing an earned run as the only run she allowed in that stretch came in extra innings with the international tie-breaking rule in affect. Senior
Bradlee Holeman has just 26.2 innings of experience and the other two pitchers are both freshmen.
HALEY, YOUNG TOP OFFENSIVE RETURNERSJunior's
Paige Haley and
Leah Young are the top two bats returning for the Eagles. Haley had a career season batting .286 with 22 runs, six doubles, two triples and 12 RBI as a leadoff hitter and Young batted .265 with 30 runs, four doubles, five triples, three home runs, 26 RBI and had 18 stolen bases. Young also led the team in two-out RBI with 13. Young also led the team in multi-hit games with 12 while Haley was third with nine.
FULLER PROMOTEDAt the end of the 2015 season
Kendall Fuller was promoted from associate head coach to co-head coach with
Mark Cooke. This means she will become the coach of record along with Cooke for all games. Fuller is in her fourth season with the Eagles.
BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLLWinthrop was selected to finish fifth in the Big South Conference Preseason Poll as it was 1-of-6 teams to receive a first-place vote. The Eagles finished 2015 with a 26-25 overall record and were 14-9 in the league and finishing third in the standings. The Eagles return seven starters (six of them underclassmen). The team will also return four of the top six batters from last year as well. Winthrop won 10 of its final 13 games of the season that included two series sweeps in conference play.
