ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball steps away from Big South Conference action for a midweek clash at North Carolina State Tuesday evening.
 
WHERE: Raleigh, NC (Dail Stadium)
WHEN: Tuesday, Apr. 2, 2019, 6 p.m.
RECORDS: Winthrop (15-16) | North Carolina State (19-15)
LIVE STATS: Sidearm (click here)
LIVE VIDEO: ACC Network Extra (click here)
FOLLOW: @Winthropsoftbal 
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Winthrop and North Carolina State meet for the 7^th time and the first time since the 2011 season
• The Wolfpack lead the all-time series 5-1
• Winthrop's lone victory came in 2009 at home with a 4-1 victory
• The first three meetings were decided by two or fewer runs, but the Wolfpack have won two of the last three 8-0

A LOOK AT THE WOLFPACK

• Coming off an ACC series win over Boston College on the road, winning the last two games including a 16-9 victory to take the series
• Hold a 8-8 record at home this season
• This season the Wolfpack are 3-0 against team's from the Big South scoring a total of 23 runs and allowing just one
• Opened the season with wins over #7 Arizona and South Florida (who received votes) while suffering one-run losses to #5 Florida and #19 Michigan
• Batting .241 as a team and averaging 4.1 runs per game
• Brigette Nordberg leads the team in average (.356), runs (27), homeruns (14) and RBI (39)
• Sam Russ is second on the team with a .295 average and has 23 runs, four doubles, four triples, two homeruns and 17 stolen bases
• Devin Wallace and Sydney Nester make up the rotation as Wallace is 9-9 in 21 starts this season while Nester is 9-4 in 11 starts
• Wallace has a 2.74 ERA with 116 strikeouts to 43 walks and Nester has a 2.62 ERA with 106 strikeouts and 50 walks
• Wallace is a junior that transferred to the Wolfpack after one season at Coastal Carolina

GLANCE AT THE EAGLES

• Eagles took their first conference series, 2-1 over Gardner-Webb
• The pitching held the league's top scoring offense to just three runs in three games, including a 5-0 shutout to clinch the series
• The team is batting .269, which is 7^th among Big South schools and the Eagles have the 6^th most runs (152)
• Morgan Lowers continues to lead the team in batting at .355, but is looking to break out of a 1-for-14 slump
• Lowers is second on the team in runs (23) while Tori Walker now leads the team with 24
• Blake Wallert is on a five-game hitting streak that has pushed her season average to .345 and she has reached base in seven straight games
• Wallert had a three-run triple in the 5-0 win over the Runnin' Bullddogs
• Romine leads the team with a .457 on-base percentage and walks (22)
• Ashley Westbrooks has missed the last two games but in the six previous games was 8-for-18 with six runs and 14 RBI
• Madyson Watson is 4^th in the league with a 2.59 ERA and is 7-3 on the year
• The seven wins are a career-high (previous best was five)
• There are a few players on this year's roster that faced the Wolfpack's Wallace when she was a freshman at Coastal Carolina in a 4-3 win
• It was Westbrooks that drove in the winning run in the top of the seventh inning

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 419-353 and a record of 256-261 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 7^th in triples, and 11^th in triples per game
• Keleigh Romine ranks 18^th nationally in walks and also leads the Big South

 
ROY TABBED BIG SOUTH FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Bella Roy has been named the Big South Conference Freshman of the Week, announced by the league office Monday afternoon. With the Gardner-Webb series tied 1-1, Roy got the ball in the circle and delivered a one-hit shutout in a 5-0 win. Roy went the distance allowing the one hit over seven innings while walking three and tying a career-best 11 strikeouts. She lost her no-hit bid in the sixth inning with one out but not without the full effort of the defense behind her as left fielder Tori Walker made a diving attempt to make the catch but just missed. Entering the weekend the Runnin' Bulldogs were the Big South's top scoring team at 6.3 runs per game and had only been shut out twice all season (vs. Loyola-Chicago and #15 Texas Tech). Since the weekly honor for freshmen was created in 2017, Roy is just the second Winthrop player to earn the honor as Ashley Westbrooks did so Feb. 20, 2017.
 
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 get back to Big South Conference action on the road when they head to Radford, VA to take on Radford in a three-game series starting with a single-game Friday evening at 5 p.m. The doubleheader will be Saturday, Apr. 6 beginning at 2 p.m.