ROCK HILL, SC— With 18 games under their belt the Winthrop softball team is set to open Big South Conference action when it travels to Campbell for a weekend series beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday.
 
WHERE: Buies Creek, NC (Amanda Littlejohn Stadium / 400)
WHEN: Saturday, Mar. 9, 1/3 p.m. (doubleheader) | Sunday, Mar. 10, 1:30 p.m.
RECORDS: Winthrop (9-9, 0-0 Big South) | Campbell (6-14, 0-0 Big South)
LIVE STATS: Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3
LIVE VIDEO: none
FOLLOW: @Winthropsoftbal 
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Winthrop and Campbell have met 57 times with the Eagles leading the all-time series 36-21
• The two teams squared off four times in 2018 with the Camels ending the Eagles season in the Big South Tournament
• This is the second straight year the Eagles will make the trip to Buies Creek as they opened the
• Since the Camels came back to the Big South in 2012 the Eagles are 9-17

GLANCE AT THE EAGLES

• Coming off a 3-0 loss at nationally-ranked South Carolina behind a strong pitching performance from senior Kiley Majette
• It was the third time the Eagles were shutout this season but they are still averaging 5.1 runs per game
• Sitting third among Big South teams with a .295 batting average and second with 91 runs
• The 19 runs scored in the win at East Carolina is the most in a single-game by any league school this season
• Senior Morgan Lowers leads the team with a .433 average, which ranks 6^th in the league
• Lowers also ranks among the league leaders in slugging percentage (3^rd), runs scored (T6th), RBI (4^th), triples (2^nd) and home runs (2^nd)
• Lowers leads the Big South in hits with 26 and total bases with 45
• Redshirt-Junior Brooke Ellison is tied for the most triples in the Big South with four and is 10^th in the league in hits
• Eagles have three ranked among the Top 12 in the league for total hits
• Lowers and Ellison have been very good so far this season with runners in scoring position as Lowers is batting .476 while Ellison is batting .435
• Junior Tori Walker is tied for second in the league in doubles with seven and 4^th in runs scored
• Junior Madyson Watson is 4^th in the Big South in strikeouts, 6^th in ERA and 8^th in wins
• Have scored in the first inning in nine games this season and scored more runs in the first than any other inning as the team is 6-3 when putting runs across in the first

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 413-346 and a record of 250-254 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 11/13
• Coastal Carolina received votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 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 2^nd (Cydney Curman of CSU Bakersfield leads the nation with five)
• Ellison ranks 9^th in triples per game while teammate Morgan Lowers is 11^th in triples and 35^th in triples per game
• Lowers is also ranked 27^th in total bases as she leads the Big South in that category
• Keleigh Romine is ranked 29^th nationally in walks and also leads the Big South
• Tori Walker has seven doubles on the season, which ranks 22^nd nationally
• Lowers is also ranked 33^rd 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
The series at Campbell starts a stretch of six straight league games as the Eagles will be back in action next weekend for the league home opener against Longwood. The series will open up Friday, Mar. 15 with a single game at 6 p.m. and then a doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 16 beginning at 2 p.m..