ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop is set to host a three-game weekend series with Gardner-Webb at Terry Field beginning with a doubleheader Friday, Mar. 29 at 4 p.m.
 
WHERE: Rock Hill, SC (Terry Field / 500)
WHEN: Friday, Mar. 29, 4/6 p.m. | Saturday, Mar. 30, 1 p.m.
RECORDS: Winthrop (13-15, 2-4 Big South) | Gardner-Webb 20-11, 1-2 Big South)
LIVE STATS: Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3
LIVE VIDEO: Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3
FOLLOW: @Winthropsoftbal 
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Winthrop and Gardner-Webb have met 44 times with the Eagles leading the series 28-16
• The Runnin' Bulldogs won the series last year in Boiling Springs, NC as all three games were tight
• Gardner-Webb scored 15 runs in the series while the Eagles also scored 15

 
A LOOK AT THE RUNNIN' BULLDOGS

• Enters the series with the league's top offense with a .309 team batting average and 6.3 runs per game
• Lead the Big South in triples, homeruns and walks as well
• Ranked 25^th nationally in scoring , 30^th in slugging percentage and 30^th in batting average
• Led by Kaylee Wacaster with a .398 average, 27 runs and 25 RB
• Andria Booth is batting .386 with 29 runs and 12 RBI while Brooke Perry leads the team and conference in RBI with 39
• Perry is also the team's top pitcher with a 12-6 record, 2.67 ERA and 142 strikeouts to 63 walks
• After dropping their first conference series at Radford, bounced back to sweep doubleheader at Western Carolina

 
GLANCE AT THE EAGLES

• Coming off a 6-4 loss at Coastal Carolina on Wednesday as Kassidy Smith hit a walk-off homerun
• Looking to capture first conference series of the season and move up the league standings
• Morgan Lowers leads the team with a .385 average and is second with 23 runs and 17 RBI
• Lowers is closing in on 200 career hits as she now stands at 182 and also nearing 200 career starts (187 currently)
• Ashley Westbrooks has a six-game hitting streak and is now batting .298 with 18 runs, four doubles, four homeruns and a team-high 24 RBI
• Tori Walker hit a two-run homerun at Coastal Carolina and now has three on the year, which ranks second on the team
• Walker is batting .302 with a team-best 24 runs and leads the team with eight stolen bases and eight doubles
• Madyson Watson is 6-3 on the year with a 2.67 ERA and 68 strikeouts to 27 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 417-352 and a record of 254-260 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 for a couple of weeks before just dropping out this week

 
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, and 18^th in triples per game while Lowers ranks 47^th in triples per game
• Keleigh Romine ranks 26^th nationally in walks and also leads the Big South 

WESTBROOKS NAMED BIG SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ashley Westbrooks was tabbed the Big South Conference Player of the Week on Mar. 25. The junior third baseman finished the weekend series with Binghamton 6-for-10 with four runs, a double, four homeruns, and 12 RBI. She hit three of her homeruns on Saturday to help lead the Eagles to a doubleheader sweep to take the series 2-1. In the first game of the doubleheader Westbrooks hit two homeruns to finish with a career-high seven RBI. In the third inning she hit a three-run homerun to cut the Bearcats lead to 5-3 and then hit a grand slam for an 8-5 lead in the fourth inning. In the second game of the doubleheader she hit a two-run homer to give the Eagles a 7-2 lead in the sixth inning. The 12 RBI in the series pushed her career total to 85, becoming the 16^th player in program history to reach 80 or more in a career.
 
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 league competition on Tuesday, Apr. 2 as they head to Raleigh, NC to take on North Carolina State at 6 p.m.