ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop softball will host its final home games of the season when it hosts USC Upstate for a Big South series Apr. 20 and Apr. 22 at Terry Field. The series was originally scheduled to start Friday at 6 p.m. but that game was moved to Monday due to the weather forecast of thunderstorms.  
 
WHERE: Rock Hill, SC (Terry Field / 500)
WHEN: Saturday, Apr. 20, 2019, 1/3 p.m. | Monday, Apr. 22, 2019, 4 p.m.
RECORDS: Winthrop (21-21, 10-8 Big South) | USC Upstate (37-11, 17-4 Big South)
LIVE STATS: Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3
LIVE VIDEO: None
FOLLOW: @Winthropsoftbal 
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Eagles and Spartans have met eight times with USC Upstate leading the all-time series 7-1
• These two teams faced each other last year as the Spartans took a doubleheader 6-1 and 10-2
• This will be the first time they've faced each other as conference opponents 

A LOOK AT THE SPARTANS

• Coming off a loss at nationally-ranked South Carolina which ended a winning streak at 14 games
• Since starting league play 5-4, the Spartans have won 12 straight against league opponents
• Hold a 6-7 record on the road this season but three in league play
• Lead the Big South in batting average (.310) and ERA (1.62) as the average ranks 27^th nationally and the ERA is 8^th
• Led by Player of the Year candidate Alyssa Oakes with a .397 batting average, 38 runs, 22 homeruns and 70 RBI
• Oakes leads the nation in both homeruns and RBI
• Brittany Case leads the Big South with a .399 average and also has 34 runs, 15 doubles, five homeruns, 40 RBI and 17 stolen bases
• The pitching staff is led by the duo of Christina Biggerstaff and Erin Hill
• Biggerstaff has 28 starts in 30 appearances as she's 23-3 with a 1.07 ERA and 222 strikeouts to 54 walks
• Biggerstaff ranks 1^st nationally in shutouts, 5^th in strikeouts and 9^th in ERA 

GLANCE AT THE EAGLES

• Coming off a midweek non-conference loss to Western Carolina but have won five of the last six league games
• Sitting in a tie for 3^rd in the Big South standings with Charleston Southern
• The top six teams qualify for the conference tournament the Eagles are currently five wins away from the team's tied for 7^th and have the tie breaker over both (Gardner-Webb/Hampton)
• Senior Morgan Lowers is one hit away from 200 in her career as she'll become the 8^th to reach that mark in program history
• Lowers already set a new career-high for hits in a single-season with 54 (51 in 2016) and is a double away from becoming the 13^th player in program history to reach 30 in a career
• She'll be making her 202^nd start on Saturday and if she plays in all three games of the series she'll tie for 10^th all-time in games played (208)
• Ashley Westbrooks is closing in on being the 15^th player in program history to reach 90 RBI in a career as she currently has 89
• Lowers leads the team with a .365 average while Westbrooks is second at .316
• Blake Wallert is batting .304 on the year and leads the team with 13 RBI in Big South action (15 games)
• Madyson Watson took her first loss since Mar. 22 against Western Carolina on Wednesday but leads the team at 11-4 on the year
• Watson is a perfect 7-0 in the league with a 1.55 ERA and has two shutouts in seven starts
• She's also batting .355 with six runs, two doubles, three homers and 11 RBI in 31 at-bats in league play 

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 425-358 and a record of 258-266 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 
• South Carolina is ranked 15^th in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll while Georgia is ranked 16^th
• Currently the Eagles have eight opponents in the Top 125 of RPI and six in the Top 70
• There are 12 opponents that have a winning record as of Apr. 15 

EAGLES AMONG NATIONAL LEADERS

• Brooke Ellison entered the week ranked 6^th nationally in triples and 10^th in triples per game
• Keleigh Romine and Ashley Westbrooks entered the week 20^th in the country in sacrifice flies
• Lowers entered the week ranked 39^th in the country in hits 

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 will have eight days off to take care of final exams before returning to the field on Wednesday, May 1 in a single-game at UNC Greensboro at 6 p.m.
 
For everything Winthrop softball visit www.winthropeagles.com or follow us on social media @Winthropsoftbal, winthropsoftball (Instagram) or www.facebook.com/Winthrop-Softball.