ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop softball faces one of its toughest tests of the young season when it travels to Columbia, SC for a doubleheader at South Carolina, Tuesday afternoon beginning at 3 p.m.

Winthrop is coming off a 3-1 weekend at its home tournament and has won three straight for a 9-5 mark. The Gamecocks have won four straight and are off to a 12-2 start. They are a perfect 9-0 at home this season.   

GAME SNAPSHOT
Winthrop (9-5) at South Carolina (12-2)
Site: Columbia, SC (Beckham Field)
Game 1: Tuesday, Feb. 28, 3 p.m.
Game 2: Tuesday, Feb. 28, 5:30 p.m.
Live Stats: Game 1 / Game 2
Live Video: Watch ESPN (SEC Network +) Game 1 / Game 2

LOOK BACK AT THE WINTHROP/ADIDAS TOURNAMENT
The lineup saw some shuffling this past weekend as several players battled and recovered from the flu bug. The team's leader in RBI Maddie Antone missed Friday's action as did Ashley Westbrooks. The Eagles dropped their first contest with ETSU 6-5 in eight innings before capturing wins over North Carolina Central, Bucknell and Youngstown State. Morgan Lowers had six RBI on the weekend to lead the team offensively. The team pounded out 32 hits and scored 27 runs in four games as seven different players had at least two RBI.

SEVERAL EAGLES OFF TO A GOOD START
Maddie Antone has missed two games, but leads the team with a .412 batting average and 16 RBI in 12 games. Freshman Ashley Westbrooks is second on the team with a.393 average and has six RBI in 10 games. Senior Paige Haley has been batting leadoff and is batting .391 with a team-high 14 runs and has nine RBI (12 is career-high). Sophomore Brooke Ellison had 11 hits in 2016 in 35 games (23 starts) and already this season has 12 hits in 14 games (12 starts) and is batting .375 with an on-base percentage of .412.

SERIES HISTORY/SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA
Winthrop and South Carolina meet for the 66^th and 67^th time as the Gamecocks lead the all-time series 54-10-1. Alyssa Vanderveer leads the team with a .391 batting average as she's scored four runs and has eight RBI. Krystan White has started and played in all 14 games as she is batting .382 with 10 runs and 13 RBI. Mackenzie Boesed is tied with White for the team-lead in RBI with 13. The Gamecocks are batting .301 while holding opponents to .196. Nickie Blue has been the ace in the circle so far with a 6-0 record and an ERA of 1.34 with 26 strikeouts to 13 walks in 41.2 innings.

BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLL
Winthrop is picked to finish seventh in the Big South Conference preseason poll, but has expectations of being toward the top of the league. With the addition of Antone and the consistency of Paige Haley through her career at the plate along with the emergence of Leah Young, Morgan Lowers and Blake Wallert the Eagles expect to have a lot more firepower up and down the lineup than the last few years.