ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop softball hits the road for a three-game series at Charleston Southern this weekend with the series opening with a single-game on Friday, Apr. 14 at 4 p.m. followed by a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
GAME SNAPSHOT
Winthrop (20-23, 6-6 BSC) at Charleston Southern (20-27, 5-7 BSC)
Location: N. Charleston, SC (CSU Softball Complex)
Live Stats: Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3
  
SERIES HISTORY VERSUS CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
Winthrop and Charleston Southern will met for the 100^th time last season and have faced each other 102 times. The Eagles lead the all-time series 70-32, but are 8-15 in the last 23 meetings and haven't won a three-game series with the Bucs since 2013, which was on the road in N. Charleston. When the league moved to three-game series in 2007 the Eagles won the first three series. Since then the Eagles have only taken one series from the Bucs (2013). In 10 three-game series since 2007, the team that won the series swept it on six occasions.
 
A GLANCE AT THE EAGLES
Winthrop has lost six straight games, including four straight in the Big South. During the losing streak the Eagles have totaled 13 runs on 41 hits, but have not had an extra base hit over the last four games. The team is led offensively by junior Maddie Antone as she ranks first on the team with a .425 average and 30 RBI. Freshman Ashley Westbrooks added to her RBI total on Wednesday as she drove in two more and now has 26 on the year (2^nd on the team). Over the last 10 games Antone is averaging .516 with three runs and seven RBI while the second best during that stretch is Shayna Covington averaging .321 with four runs. In the last two games the Eagles have had 19 hits but managed four runs and left a total of 19 runners on base so there have been chances to score. Winthrop is currently 3^rd in the Big South with a .267 team batting average and is also third in pitching with a team ERA of 3.72.

A GLANCE AT THE BUCCANEERS
Charleston Southern enters the weekend having won three of its last five games. The Bucs dropped a midweek contest to the College of Charleston, 6-1. This will be the first home series in league play since late March. The Bucs are one game behind the Eagles in the league standings and boast one of the top offenses in the league. The team is batting .265 (4^th in BSC) and the pitching staff is 4^th in the league in ERA at 3.85. As a team the Bucs are third in total hits in the Big South but lead the league in home runs with 53 (20 more than any other league team) and are third in doubles with 57. CSU has a league-leading 114 extra base hits.
 
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN PLAYERS TO WATCH
HITTERS
Jade Gandara, So., OF (.369 avg., 29 runs, 16 2B, 13 HR, 46 RBI, .406 on-base percentage)
Stevi Johnson, Sr., 2B/OF (.364 avg., 22 runs, 8 2B, 3 HR, 23 RBI, .458 on-base percentage)

PITCHERS
Cheyenne Gandara, R-Jr., RHP (7-11, 3.32 ERA, 21 GS, 22 APP, 85 K, 39 BB, 109.2 IP)
Holly Clark, Fr., RHP (6-7, 4.24 ERA, 13 GS, 30 APP, 64 K, 27 BB, 97.1 IP)

MAKING THEIR MARK
Leah Young, Maddie Antone and Paige Haley are leaving their marks in the Winthrop history books. Young became the 15^th player in program history to reach 80 RBI in a career and Antone became the 16^th. Antone is closing in on 90 RBI (88) and Young is as well at 87. Young has 19 career home runs, which ranks T-6^th all-time and Antone is 6^th all-time with 18. Young hit her 10^th career triple against Western Carolina, becoming the sixth player in program history to reach 10 or more as she's tied for 5^th all-time. The team's active leader in hits is Antone (22^nd all-time) with 139 , Haley ranks 24^th all-time in hits with 135 with 139 and Young has 119 (33^rd all-time). Antone is currently the program's all-time leader in on-base percentage for a career at .481, pushing Lisa Kingsmore to second at .443. Haley with 62 career walks is now 6^th all-time at Winthrop.  Haley also has a career on-base percentage of .349 and can finish in the Top 10 all-time if she stays at or above .349.
 
MAJETTE HAS FOUR WIN WEEK IN THE CIRCLE
Kiley Majette had about as good a week as you can have as a pitcher as she won four games in helping the team to a 4-1 mark on the week. She had a 2.40 ERA with 21 strikeouts to nine walks in 23.1 innings in five appearances (3 starts). She earned two of her wins as a starter and two in a relief effort. Since Mar. 18, Majette has a 7-2 record with an ERA of .2611 and 43 strikeouts to 13 walks in 47.1 innings. In eight appearances in league play she's 4-1 with a 2.53 ERA and 25 strikeouts to six walks in 27.2 innings.
 
WHAT'S ON DECK FOR THE EAGLES?
The Eagles will head to Chapel Hill, NC for a midweek single-game at North Carolina on Wednesday, Apr. 19 at 5 p.m. Then Winthrop will return home for its final home games of the year with a weekend series vs. Liberty. The series will start with a single-game Friday night and then on Saturday the first game of the double-header will be on ESPN3.
 
WESTBROOKS NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK (APR. 3)
Freshman Ashley Westbrooks was named the Big South Player of the Week after batting .400 with three runs, a double, a home run and six RBI in five games last week. She played a key role in a double-header split at Coastal Carolina and sweeping Longwood. She had the game-winning RBI in the win over Coastal and then hit a solo home run in the 1-0 win over Longwood in the series opener. In game two of the series with Longwood she came through with a two-run double in the 7^th to spark a 3-run rally for the win. She came around to score the game-winning run on a heads up play running the bases. This is the first time a Winthrop freshman earned BSC Player of the Week honors since Stephanie Reid on Apr. 18, 2005.

MAJETTE NAMED BIG SOUTH PITCHER OF THE WEEK (2^nd TIME THIS SEASON)
Kiley Majette was named the Big South Conference Pitcher of the Week on Mar. 20 It is the second time this season Majette has garnered the weekly honor. She went 2-0 on the week in four relief appearances as she posted a 0.54 ERA with no walks and 12 strikeouts in 13 innings. She allowed six hits on the week with just one going for extra bases. Majette threw 2.0 innings, allowed a hit, one unearned run with no walks and two strikeouts at Jacksonville State. In game one of the series against Presbyterian, Majette tossed the final two innings as she gave up one hit (no runs) and tallied five strikeouts. She earned the win in game two vs. PC as she tossed 5.1 innings. She allowed one hit (no runs) with no walks and tallied three strikeouts. She then tossed the final 3.2 innings of game three to earn another win as she allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits with no walks and two strikeouts.

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.