ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop softball looks to feed off its midweek win at North Carolina when it hosts Liberty for a weekend series beginning Friday, Apr. 21 at 7 p.m. The two teams will square off in a doubleheader at 2 p.m. on Saturday as the first game of the twinbill will air on ESPN3.
 
GAME SNAPSHOT
Winthrop (22-25, 7-8 BSC) vs. Liberty (32-16, 13-2 BSC)
Location: Rock Hill, SC (Terry Field)
Live Stats: Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3
Live Video: Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 (none)
 
SERIES HISTORY VERSUS LIBERTY
Winthrop and Liberty have met 72 times and the Eagles hold a slight lead in the series at 39-33. Last season Liberty swept the regular season series, outscoring the Eagles 23-7. Since the league moved to three-game series in 2007, Winthrop has taken 6-of-10 three-game sets with the Flames. Winthrop is 10-5 against the Flames in the last 15 meetings.  
 
A GLANCE AT THE EAGLES
Winthrop is coming off a midweek win at North Carolina, but has dropped two in a row in the Big South. The Eagles put eight runs on the board at North Carolina, despite leaving 10 runners on base. Maddie Antone leads the offense for the Eagles, but is 3-for-15 in the last four games and her average has dipped under .400 for the first time since Mar. 31 in the series opener vs. Longwood. Freshman Ashley Westbrooks has six hits in the last five games and has pushed her average to .322 and is second on the team with 27 RBI. Senior Paige Haley has multiple hits in three of the last four games and has reached base in five straight games. She played in her 195^th game as an Eagle on Wednesday at UNC. Junior Shayna Covington is in the midst of a six-game hitting streak and has reached base in nine straight games. She's batting .341 with 10 runs in 15 conference games. Since suffering an injury to her eye before the Campbell series, Lowers has started to get on a roll going 8-for-19 in the last six games with two RBI and three runs. Kiley Majette leads the team with 13 wins in the circle (6 in league play). Keleigh Romine made her 19^th start of the season and is now tied with Majette on the team for the most starts.
 
SENIOR RECOGNITION
There will be a senior recognition prior to the start of the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. With the game being on ESPN3 the senior day recognitions about 30 minutes prior to the first pitch. Senior's Paige Haley, Leah Young, Madison Templeton and Maddie Antone make up this year's senior class.

A GLANCE AT THE FLAMES
Liberty boasts the league's top offense with a league-leading .319 batting average and is averaging 5.5 runs per game. As a team they have 102 extra base hits and lead the league with 68 doubles and 11 triples. The team has also stolen the second most bases in the league at 72. The Flames also lead the league in hits, on-base percentage, and batters struck out. The Flames are coming off a 6-0 victory and 3-2 loss with Virginia Tech at home. Liberty also has signature wins over Virginia, Syracuse and North Carolina State.
 
LIBERTY PLAYERS TO WATCH
HITTERS
Amber Bishop, Fr., INF (.367 avg., 36 runs, 8 2B, 9 HR, 47 RBI, .589 slugging percentage)
Tori Zavodny, Jr., OF (.410 avg., 36 runs, 10 2B, 3 3B, 26 RBI, .471 on-base percentage)

PITCHERS
Julia DiMartino, So., RHP (14-7, 2.00 ERA, 29 APP, 16 GS, 12 CG, 6 SHO, 130 K, 42 BB, 133.0 IP)
Kenzie Friesen, R-Sr., RHP (11-1, 1.81 ERA, 19 APP, 12 GS, 6 CG, 3 SHO, 38 K, 27 BB, 73.1 IP)

MAKING THEIR MARK
Leah Young, Maddie Antone and Paige Haley are leaving their marks in the Winthrop history books. Young became the 13^th player in program history to reach 90 RBI in a career and Antone became the 16^th to reach 80 RBI. Antone is just one RBI away from 90. Young has 21 career home runs, becoming the 7^th player all-time to reach 20 in a career and Antone is 8^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 142, Haley ranks 23^rd all-time in hits with 141 and Young has 120 (32^nd all-time). Antone is currently the program's all-time leader in on-base percentage for a career at .466, pushing Lisa Kingsmore to second at .443. Haley with 65 career walks is now 5^th all-time at Winthrop.  Haley also has a career on-base percentage of .354 and can finish in the Top 10 all-time if she stays at or above .349. Ashley Westbrooks is just seven RBI away from the program's freshman record set by Tessa Thomas in 2006 (34).
 
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 (Mar. 28-Apr. 1). 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. From Mar. 18-Apr. 1, Majette was 7-2 with an ERA of .261 with 43 strikeouts to 13 walks in 47.1 innings. In 14 appearances in league play she's 6-4 with a 3.79 ERA with 45 strikeouts to 15 walks in 51.2 innings.
 
WHAT'S ON DECK FOR THE EAGLES?
Winthrop will have some time off to get through final exams and won't be back in action until Saturday, May 6 when it travels to Radford, VA. The Eagles will face the Highlanders in a doubleheader at 1 p.m. on the 6^th and then wrap-up the weekend series with a single-game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
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.