ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop softball is the fifth seed as it heads to Farmville, VA for the 2017 Big South Conference Softball Championship and will open up on Wednesday at noon against 4^th-seeded Charleston Southern.
 
GAME SNAPSHOT
#5 Winthrop (24-29, 9-12 BSC) vs. #4 Charleston Southern (25-34, 10-11 BSC)
Location: Farmville, VA (Lancer Field)
Live Stats/Live Video: http://bigsouthsports.com/tournaments/?id=11
 
BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (CLICK HERE PDF BRACKET)
Wednesday, May 10 (Games 1-3); TV: Big South Network
Game 1: No. 4 Charleston Southern vs. No. 5 Winthrop, 12:00pm
Game 2: No. 3 Longwood vs. No. 6 Radford, 2:30pm
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 5:00pm (elimination game)
 
Thursday, May 11 (Games 4-6); TV: Big South Network
Game 4: No. 1 Liberty vs. Winner Game 1, 12:00pm
Game 5: No. 2 Campbell vs. Winner Game 2, 2:30pm
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4/5 (low seed), 5:00pm (elimination game)
 
Friday, May 12 (Games 7-9); TV: ESPN3
Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 4/5 (high seed), 12:00pm (elimination game)
Game 8: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 2:30pm
Game 9: Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8, 5:00pm (elimination game)
 
Saturday, May 13 (Championship Day); TV: ESPN3
Game 10: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9, 12:00pm
Game 11: If Necessary: Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 10, 2:30pm
 
WINTHROP IN THE BIG SOUTH TOURNAMENT
This will be Winthrop's 28^th Big South Conference Tournament appearance. The Eagles are 53-46 all-time in tournament action. The 53 wins are the 2^nd most all-time behind Coastal Carolina and the most by any current member of the league. Winthrop and Coastal Carolina also own the most tournament titles with six while the Chanticleers have the most championship game appearances with 13 (Winthrop has 12). The Eagles are the fifth seed for the 5th time in the program's history. The Eagles are 10-10 all-time as the 5^th seed.
 
SERIES HISTORY VERSUS CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
Winthrop and Charleston Southern will meet for the 106^th time. The Eagles lead the all-time series 71-34, but are 9-17 in the last 26 meetings and haven't won a three-game series with the Bucs since 2013, which was on the road in N. Charleston. The Eagles and Bucs have faced each other 14 times in the conference tournament and the Eagles are 12-2 in those matchups. This will be the first time they've faced each other in the conference tournament since 2013 when the Eagles won 2-1.
  
A GLANCE AT THE EAGLES
Winthrop didn't hit well at Radford last weekend, going  16-for-80 (.200) and dropping two of three games. The Eagles enter the tournament ranked 3^rd in the league with a team batting average of .267. Two of the games at Radford were decided by a single run as the Eagles have now been involved in 25 games decided by two runs or less (21 one-run games). The offense is led by junior Maddie Antone's .397 average while Paige Haley has moved up to second on the team at .305 and Ashley Westbrooks is third at .303. Antone leads the team with 62 hits, 15 doubles and 31 RBI. Haley leads the team with 35 runs and 26 walks. Westbrooks is 3^rd on the team with 28 RBI and Leah Young is second with 29. Young also leads the team with 10 home runs. The Winthrop staff is led by the sophomore duo of Kiley Majette and Keleigh Romine. Majette is 13-15 on the year with a 3.70 ERA and 127 strikeouts to 56 walks. Romine is 5-10 on the year and has the most games started at 23.
 
A GLANCE AT THE BUCCANEERS
Charleston Southern headed into the final weekend of the season needing at least one victory to qualify for the conference tournament and not only got the win but was impressive in a sweep at Campbell. The Bucs outscored the Camels 12-6 (6-2 over the final two games). The Bucs had dropped five straight heading into that series at Campbell. CSU is one of the top power teams in the league with 63 doubles and a league-leading 63 home runs.
 
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN PLAYERS TO WATCH
HITTERS
Jada Gandara, So., OF (.361 avg., 33 runs, 16 2B, 16 HR, 54 RBI, .396 on-base percentage)
Stevi Johnson, Sr., 2B/OF (.338 avg., 27 runs, 10 2B, 6 HR, 28 RBI, .433 on-base percentage)

PITCHERS
Cheyenne Gandara, R-Jr., RHP (8-11, 3.00 ERA, 24 GS, 8 CG, 123.2 IP, 95 K, 46 BB)
Arizona Pilgrim, So., RHP (9-9, 3.00 ERA, 16 GS, 7 CG, 116.2 IP, 71 K, 45 BB)

LEAVING 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 22 career home runs and is now 5^th all-time while 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 (19^th all-time) with 150, Haley ranks 21^st all-time in hits with 147 and Young has 126 (30^th all-time). Antone is currently the program's all-time leader in on-base percentage for a career at .468, pushing Lisa Kingsmore to second at .443. Haley with 67 career walks is now 3^rd all-time at Winthrop.  Haley also has a career on-base percentage of .357 and can finish in the Top 10 all-time if she stays at or above .349. Ashley Westbrooks is just five RBI away from the program's freshman record set by Tessa Thomas in 2006 (34).
 
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.