ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball opens up its home schedule this weekend as it faces Longwood in a three-game Big South Conference series Mar. 15-16 at Terry Field.
 
WHERE: Rock Hill, SC (Terry Field / 500)
WHEN: Friday, Mar. 15, 6 p.m. | Saturday, Mar. 16, 2 p.m. (doubleheader)
RECORDS: Winthrop (10-11, 1-2 Big South) | Longwood (12-7, 0-0 Big South)
LIVE STATS: Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3
LIVE VIDEO: none
FOLLOW: @Winthropsoftbal 
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Winthrop and Longwood have met 24 times with the Lancers leading the all-time series 15-9
• Last year in Farmville the two teams played three competitive games as both teams finished with nine runs in the series as the Eagles dropped two one-run games
• The last time the Eagles hosted the Lancers at Terry Field they swept the three-game series
• In that series the Eagles won three straight one-run games

A LOOK AT THE LANCERS

• Big South Conference preseason favorite receiving 6-of-9 first-place votes
• Coming off a midweek doubleheader at home against East Carolina in which the Lancers split
• Longwood dropped the first game 8-7 but bounced back to take the second game 3-2 in eight innings
• Started the season 1-3 before winning six straight
• Chelsea Whitcomb leads the team with a .377 average and is 13-of-16 stealing bases
• Kaylynn Batten and Alexis Wayland lead the team with 15 RBI while Wayland leads with 16 runs
• Sydney Gay leads the pitching staff as she's 6-4 on the year with a 2.33 ERA and 34 strikeouts to 37 walks

GLANCE AT THE EAGLES

• Looking to bounce back from dropping its league-opening series at Campbell last weekend
• Batting .283 as a team, which ranks 4^th in the Big South and have the second most runs scored (104 – as of 3/11/19)
• Senior Morgan Lowers has a team-best .417 average, which ranks 4^th in the Big South as she's 1-of-4 Eagles hitting .300 or better
• Lowers is second in the league in hits (30), 5^th in RBI (17), 2^nd for triples (3), and leads the conference in total bases
• After the Campbell series she now has 175 career hits as she's 25 away from becoming the 8^th player in program history to record 200 hits in a career
• Brooke Ellison has multiple hit games in six of the last 12 games and is batting .333 on the year with 12 runs and 10 RBI
• Winthrop has six players with 10 or more RBI as Ansley Gilreath has 12, Keleigh Romine and Taylor Charlton have 11 and Ashley Westbrooks has 10
• Madyson Watson most the most starts in the circle with nine as she's 3-2 with a 2.66 ERA and 46 strikeouts to 21 walks
• Kiley Majette has eight starts and is 3-7 with a 4.93 ERA and 50 strikeouts to 12 walks

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 414-348 and a record of 251-256 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 13/16
• Coastal Carolina received votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Poll while USC Upstate received a vote in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll

EAGLES AMONG NATIONAL LEADERS

• There are a few players ranked among the national leaders with Brooke Ellison's triples being the highest ranking at 4^th (Cydney Curman of CSU Bakersfield leads the nation with six)
• Ellison ranks 14^th in triples per game while teammate Morgan Lowers is 18^th in triples and 38^th in triples per game
• Lowers is also ranked 68^th in total bases as she leads the Big South in that category
• Keleigh Romine is ranks 30^th nationally in walks and also leads the Big South
• Tori Walker has seven doubles on the season, which ranks 28^th nationally
• Lowers is also ranked 58^th in total hits

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
Eagles will step away from Big South Conference action next week beginning with a midweek contest at North Carolina State on Wednesday, Mar. 20 at 6 p.m. and the game will be available on the ACC Network Extra.