ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball opens the 2018 season at the Red & Black Showcase hosted by the University of Georgia as it will face Evansville and Georgia Friday afternoon on the first day of action.
RED & BLACK SHOWCASE
| Winthrop vs. Evansville |
Friday, Feb. 16, 12:30 p.m. |
Live Stats |
| Winthrop at #17/25 Georgia |
Friday, Feb. 16, 3 p.m. |
Watch/ Live Stats |
| Winthrop vs. Samford |
Saturday, Feb. 17, 10:30 a.m. |
Live Stats |
| Winthrop vs. Evansville |
Saturday, Feb. 17, 6 p.m. |
Live Stats |
| Winthrop vs. Samford |
Sunday, Feb. 18, 3:30 p.m. |
Live Stats |
ALL-TIME RECORDS vs. OPPONENTS: 0-0 vs. Evansville
| 2-22 vs. Georgia | 1-2 vs. Samford
(TOURNAMENT CENTRAL)
SEASON OPENERS
- Winthrop has won five of its last seven season openers
- Eagles opened up the 2017 season with an 11-6 victory over East Carolina
- All-time the Eagles are 28-16 all-time in season openers and 17-11 during Mark Cooke's tenure as head coach
RED & BLACK SHOWCASE
- This is the 12th season for the annual Red & Black Showcase hosted by the University of Georgia
- It is a tournament that gives the Eagles a competitive schedule to open up the season and test the team right away
- The Eagles have been going to Athens, GA for 11 straight years in the early part of the season
- This is the 6th straight year the Eagles are opening the season at the Red & Black Showcase while they participated in the Annual Georgia Softball Classic the five seasons before that, which takes place the second weekend of the season
GLANCE AT THE EAGLES
- Winthrop returns seven starters, including seven of the top 10 batters from 2017
- There are seven new players on the team with six freshmen and a sophomore
- In 2017 the Eagles had one of the strongest defensive teams in the league with a .961 fielding percentage and have the pieces back to be as good if not better in the field
- One of the top returning players is All-Big South selection Ashley Westbrooks
- Westbrooks was second on the team in batting with a .321 average and tied for the team-lead in RBI with 35
- Westbrooks was second on the team with six home runs and 10 doubles
- Other returning starters include Brooke Ellison, Morgan Lowers, Shayna Covington and Ansley Gilreath
- All four pitchers from last season return highlighted by starters Kiley Majette and Keleigh Romine
- Majette led the Eagles in innings pitched last season with 184.2 and wins as well with 16
- Majette was second in the Big South in strikeouts and her 16 wins ranked 3rd in the league
- Romine tossed 113 innings with five wins and two saves
- Westbrooks, Lowers, Gilreath and Majette will look to pick up where they left off from the end of the 2017 season
- Westbrooks batted .471 with nine runs, two doubles, a home run and seven RBI with an on-base percentage of .571 in five conference tournament games
- Lowers batted .421 with 3 RBI in the conference tournament while Gilreath batted .400 with six RBI and a .500 on-base percentage
- Majette tossed 27.2 innings in the Big South Tournament, finishing with an ERA of 1.77
HEAD COACH MARK COOKE
- Head coach Mark Cooke is in his 34th season overall and 29th year at Winthrop
- Cooke announced this will be his final season coaching as he enters the year with a record of 750-788-3 at Winthrop and 834-837-3 in his career
- He is the Big South Conference's all-time leader in victories, conference wins, and conference tournament victories
- During his tenure the Eagles have won four Big South Tournament titles and four Big South regular season championships
- Cooke has led his team to 11 Big South Conference Tournament Title games (tied with Coastal Carolina's Jess Dannelly for the most by any coach in league history)
- Voted Big South Coach of the Year in 2005, 2007 and 2008
- He guided the 2007 squad to a program record 50 wins and is one of only two teams in the history of the Big South to win 50 games in a single-season
SCHEDULE
- Eagles will have 18 contests against teams that finished in the Top 125 of RPI in 2017, 12 in the Top 100, 11 in the Top 75, eight in the Top 50 and four in the Top 25
- Seven opponents on the slate this year competed in an NCAA Regional in 2017
- There are 26 different opponents on the schedule and 14 of them had a winning record in 2017 (15 were .500 or better)
- Seven of the opponents finished with 30 or more wins and four had 40 or more wins
BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLL
Winthrop was picked to finish sixth in the annual preseason poll, despite returning eight starters and all four pitchers from the 2017 team that finished 5
th in the league. Longwood was voted to win the league, receiving 5-of-8 first place votes, followed by Liberty, Campbell, Charleston Southern, Radford, Winthrop, Presbyterian College and Gardner-Webb.
