ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop softball steps away from Big South Conference action for a doubleheader Tuesday evening at Charlotte.
 
GAME SNAPSHOT
Winthrop (12-23) at Charlotte (18-13)
Site: Charlotte, NC (Phillips Softball Complex)
Game 1: Tuesday, Mar. 29, 4:30 p.m.
Game 2: Tuesday, Mar. 29, 6:30 p.m. (approx.)
Live Stats: Game 1 / Game 2
Live Video: NONE

SERIES HISTORY VERSUS CHARLOTTE
Winthrop and Charlotte have met 75 times but this will be the first meeting since 2013 when the two teams played a doubleheader in Charlotte. Winthrop leads the all-time 40-35 as the last time they met the two teams split with the Eagles winning 10-3 before falling 7-1. In the last 10 meetings, Winthrop and Charlotte are even at 5-5. The series started in 1986 with the Eagles captured wins of 10-0 and 11-2 to open up that season.
 
A GLANCE AT THE EAGLES
Winthrop captured its first Big South Conference series of the season this past weekend and did so with strong pitching and fielding as well as timely hitting. Prior to last week's action, the Eagles had a team ERA of 6.16 and were allowing opponents 6.3 runs per game with a .332 batting average. Last week Winthrop's young pitching staff showed consistency and improvement as it held a 2.12 ERA with opponents scoring 2.6 runs and batting .232. One of the most impressive performances was freshman Keleigh Romine in her three relief pitching appearances. She threw at least two innings of relief in all three appearances and combined for 6.2 innings pitched allowing just one hit with no walks and eight strikeouts. She earned her first save in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader against Radford to help the Eagles claim the series. The hottest bat belongs to freshman Morgan Lowers as she hit .556 last week with 10 hits, three runs, three doubles and two RBI. She's hit in six straight games and has multiple hits in each of the last four games. Zharne Glover has also been swinging it well as she had five hits last week, three for extra bases that included her first collegiate home run.
 
A GLANCE AT THE 49ERS
Charlotte is enjoying a solid season with 18 wins against a competitive schedule. So far this season the 49ers are a perfect 4-0 against teams from the Big South having defeated PC twice and Gardner-Webb twice. Pitching is one of the main strengths of the 49ers as their staff features Lexi Betancourt and Haley Wiseman. Betancourt is 12-7 on the year with a 2.02 ERA with 118 strikeouts to 46 walks in 124.2 innings of work and has three shutouts. Wiseman is 6-6 with a 3.71 ERA and has 89 strikeouts to 40 walks in 71.2 innings and has four shutouts. Haley Pace leads the offense with a team-best .344 average and also leads the team in runs (21), home runs (4) and RBI (28). Grace Beatty is second on the team with a .324 average and 21 RBI. Charlotte likes to run as it has 22 more stolen bases than its opponents with 49 on 57 attempts. The offense is scoring 4.6 runs per game while allowing 3.1. Charlotte participated in the Winthrop Invitational for one day taking on #16/17 Kentucky and Lehigh. The 49ers defeated the Wildcats before falling to Lehigh and the following received votes in the national polls.
 
CHARLOTTE PLAYERS TO WATCH
HITTERS
Haley Pace (.344, 21 runs, 5 doubles, 4 home runs, 28 RBI, .420 on-base percentage)
Grace Beatty (.324, 15 runs, 4 doubles, 21 RBI)
Lizzy Birch (.319, 16 runs, 21 walks, .495 on-base percentage)
PITCHERS
Lexi Betancourt (2.02 ERA, 12-7, 20 starts, 18 complete games, 118 K's, 46 BB, 124.2 IP)
  
LOWERS NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Lowers had a hit in all five conference games last week with multiple hits in four of five games played, and batted .556 with a slugging percentage of .722. She led the Eagles against Presbyterian and Radford to help the Eagles secure their first two conference wins of the season. She opened up the Radford series 3-for-4 with a  run and RBI to help the team to a 6-3 win and was 2-for-4 with a run and RBI in a 6-3 win on Saturday to help clinch the series. She's now hit safely in six straight, which is the second six-game hit streak she has this season with a career-best seven-game hitting streak coming in the middle of March.
 
WHAT'S ON DECK FOR THE EAGLES?
Winthrop stays on the road and gets back to Big South Conference action as it travels to Farmville, VA to take on Longwood for a three-game series starting with a single-game on Friday and the doubleheader on Saturday.
 
EAGLES TO HOST NATIONALLY TELEVISED GAME AGAINST COASTAL APRIL 8
Winthrop's single-game on April 8 is the series opener against Coastal Carolina and that game will air live on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. It will be the Eagles first game on ESPNU since the 2013 Big South Championship game on Terry Field against Longwood.
 
WINTHROP HOSTING BIG SOUTH TOURNAMENT
The Winthrop Softball Complex and Terry Field will be the site of the 2016 Big South Conference Softball Championship May 11-14. It will be the 14^th time the tournament will be hosted by Winthrop and first time since 2013. Ticket prices will be announced at a later date. Winthrop has been to the Big South Championship game 12 times, including eight of the last 15 tournaments.