ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball looks to bounce back and end a two-game losing streak as it heads to Greenville, NC for the Purple-Gold Invitational hosted by East Carolina.
 

Winthrop vs. Massachusetts	Friday, Mar. 1, 12:30 p.m.	Live Stats
Winthrop at East Carolina	Friday, Mar. 1, 5:30 p.m.	Live Stats / Live Video
Winthrop vs. Columbia	Saturday, Mar. 2, 10 a.m.	Live Stats
Winthrop vs. Massachusetts	Saturday, Mar. 2, 12:30 p.m.	Live Stats
Winthrop at East Carolina	Sunday, Mar. 3, 11:30 a.m.	Live Stats / Live Video

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ALL-TIME RECORDS vs. OPPONENTS: 0-1 vs. Massachusetts | 2-16 vs. East Carolina | first meeting vs. Columbia
  
PURPLE-GOLD INVITATIONAL

• The Eagles join Columbia, East Carolina, and Massachusetts to make up the field
• The Eagles will play UMASS for just the second time in program history as Minutewomen are 3-7 on the year and coming off a 4-0 loss at #8 Georgia on Feb. 23
• The first ever meeting took place on Feb. 22, 2015 in Mt. Pleasant, SC as the Eagles fell 5-4
• Columbia enters with a 2-3 mark after opening its season last weekend at the FIU Panther Invitational
• All three losses came by a single run as the Lions wrapped up the Invitational with a 3-0 win over the host FIU
• ECU opened the season 8-1 before falling 1-0 at Boston College and 3-1 to #18 James Madison
• Pirates have played six straight home games leading into the weekend

GLANCE AT THE EAGLES

• Looking to end a two-game skid as the Eagles will take on a competitive field at the Purple-Gold Invitational
• Rank 3^rd in the Big South with a team batting average of .309 and second in total hits with 107
• Morgan Lowers leads the team with a .465 average, which is second-best in the Big South
• Lowers also leads the team with 20 hits, three triples, three homeruns and 14 RBI and is tied for the team lead in runs (11) with Tori Walker
• Walker is off to a good start this season at .333 and has six extra base hits as she leads the team with five doubles
• Logan Webb, Blake Wallert, Keleigh Romine and Brooke Ellison are other starters batting over .300 for the year
• Lowers does lead the Big South in total bases with 37 and triples with three
• Romine leads the conference in walks with 12 as she leads the team with a .489 on-base percentage, which ranks 9^th in the league

HEAD COACH WINDY THEES

• Head coach Windy Thees is in her first year at Winthrop and in her 15^th season as head coach of a collegiate softball program
• Spent five seasons at Georgia State & College compiling a 163-92 record followed by six years at Memphis (172-151) and three seasons at Ole Miss (69-94)
• In her 15 seasons she's compiled an overall record of 411-343 and a record of 248-251 at the helm of a D1 program
• Led Ole Miss to five wins over nationally-ranked opponents that included a 2-0 victory at #1 Florida in 2014
• In 2003 she led Georgia State & College to a runner-up finish in the Division II National Championship
• Thees was a four-year starter at Florida State as both a catcher and second baseman. 

SCHEDULE

• Eagles have 10 opponents that finished in the Top 100 RPI in 2018 and seven in the Top 75
• There are three opponents that made an NCAA Regional, 11 teams that finished in the Top 3 of their respective conference and five of which played in a conference championship game
• Winthrop had two opponents in the preseason Top 10 with Georgia at 6^th and South Carolina tied for 9^th 
• In the latest national polls, Georgia is ranked 8/8 while South Carolina is ranked 13/13
• Coastal Carolina received votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Poll

ROMINE NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Keleigh Romine was named the Big South Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 11. Romine had an impressive opening weekend as she led the team in batting at .571 and tied for team-high eight hits. She had an impressive on-base percentage of .714 and reached base in all five games. Romine began the weekend 2-for-2 with a run, RBI and two walks in the season opening win over Savannah State. In the third game of the weekend she started in the circle and allowed no runs on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts to earn the win. In the same game she had an RBI single in the 3^rd inning for a 1-0 lead. Against Georgia Southern she tied a career-best of three hits to help the Eagles earn a 10-7 win over the host of the tournament. She got the Eagles in front in the first inning with an RBI single to right center and tied the game at 4-4 later on a ground rule double.

BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLL
Winthrop was picked to finish 7^th in the Big South Conference despite returning all but one starter and its entire pitching staff. Longwood was picked to finish first, edging out newcomer USC Upstate by eight votes as the favorite. Radford was picked third followed by Campbell, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Winthrop, Hampton and Presbyterian College.
 
UP NEXT
Following the Purple and Gold Invitational the Eagles will have their first midweek contest of the season as they'll travel to Columbia, SC on Wednesday, Mar. 6 to take on nationally-ranked South Carolina at 6 p.m.