ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball gets back to non-conference action this weekend as it hosts Binghamton in a three-game series.
 
WHERE: Rock Hill, SC (Terry Field / 500)
WHEN: Friday, Mar. 22, 2 p.m. | Saturday, Mar. 23, 12 p.m. (doubleheader)
RECORDS: Winthrop (11-13) | Binghamton ()
LIVE STATS: Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3
LIVE VIDEO: Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3
FOLLOW: @Winthropsoftbal 
 
SERIES HISTORY

• This is the first ever meeting between Winthrop and Binghamton

A LOOK AT THE BEARCATS

• Currently on a road trip through the southeast as they played a doubleheader at Virginia Tech on Tuesday and will play a doubleheader at Furman on Thursday
• Entering the doubleheader at Furman with a 6-9 record
• Have wins over CSU Bakersfield, Cal-State Northridge, Santa Clara, Incarnate Word, Morgan State and Rutgers

GLANCE AT THE EAGLES

• Coming off a home series loss to Longwood in which the two losses came by two runs
• After the 19-0 win at East Carolina the Eagles were batting .305 as a team, but in the last seven games are batting just .175
• The team is now batting .268, which is 6^th among Big South schools and the Eagles have the 5^th most runs (113)
• Morgan Lowers continues to lead the team in batting at .390 and also leads in RBI (17)
• Lowers is 5^th in the conference in total bases 8^th in batting average
• In the last six games Lowers has three multiple-hit games and was 2-for-4 with a run in the last game against Longwood
• Brooke Ellison is on a four-game hitting streak and is second on the team with a .329 average
• Keleigh Romine is also on a four-game hit streak and has three RBI in the last four games
• Romine leads the team with a .457 on-base percentage and walks (19)
• Ashley Westbrooks has five hits, five runs, and three RBI in the last six games
• Madyson Watson is 5^th in the league with a 2.32 ERA and is 5-2 on the year
• The five wins ties her career-high for a single-season, which she achieved last year and has also tied her career-best of 50 strikeouts
• Eagles have scored seven or more runs in five of the last six meetings with opponents from the America East
• The one game they did not score at least seven in that stretch the Eagles lost 1-0 to Albany
• Over the last 10 meetings with an America East opponent the Eagles are 7-3

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 415-350 and a record of 252-258 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 
• Georgia is ranked 12^th while South Carolina is ranked 16^th in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll
• 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 10^th (Cydney Curman of CSU Bakersfield leads the nation with six)
• Ellison ranks 12^th in triples per game while teammate Morgan Lowers is 26^th in triples and 44^th in triples per game
• Keleigh Romine is ranks 12^th nationally in walks and also leads the Big South

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 return home for a three-game series with non-conference foe Binghamton this weekend with the opening game of the series set for 2 p.m. on Friday, Mar. 22. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 23 with the first pitch set for noon.