2019 Big South Tournament Bracket

ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop is seeded fourth for the 2019 Big South Conference Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting and will open up against fifth seeded Charleston Southern on Wednesday, May 8 at noon.
 
WHERE: Buies Creek, NC (Amanda Littlejohn Stadium /400)
WHEN: Wednesday, May 8, 12 p.m.
RECORDS: (4)Winthrop (26-23, 14-10 Big South) | (5)Charleston Southern (18-34, 12-12 Big South)
LIVE STATS: Statbroadcast
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN3
FOLLOW: @Winthropsoftbal 
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Eagles have won the last two meetings as they took the three-game series at Charleston Southern last week and now lead the all-time series 75-37
• Winthrop dropped the first game 4-1 before rallying late in each of the next two games in a 3-1 win in eight innings and a 3-1 win in seven innings
• Three of the last five meetings in the conference tournament have been decided by two or fewer runs

 
BIG SOUTH TOURNAMENT HISTORY (WINTHROP)

• This will mark the 18^th meeting between Winthrop and Charleston Southern in Big South Tournament action
• The Eagles are 13-4 against the Bucs in the tournament
• Eagles last faced the Bucs in the conference tournament in 2017 as the two teams squared off twice in Farmville, VA
• Winthrop opened the 2017 tournament with a 5-4 loss to the Bucs and then earned an 8-0 win against the Bucs
• The Eagles are 56-50 all-time in conference tournament play with six championships and 12 championship game appearances
• This is the 4^th time the Eagles have been seeded 4^th for the conference tournament and first time since 2002
• Winthrop reached the tournament title game in 2002 before falling 1-0 to 5^th-seeded Liberty
• The first time the Eagles were the 4^th seed was 1993 as the tournament was held in Buies Creek, NC at Campbell and they opened the conference tournament against 5^th-seeded Charleston Southern with a 2-1 win
• This will be the 4^th time that Winthrop and Charleston Southern have faced each other in their opening game of the conference tournament

 
A LOOK AT THE BUCANEERS

• Opened the Winthrop series with a 4-1 win before dropping the next two in late innings
• Have lost seven of the last nine games with three of the losses by two or fewer runs
• This is the first trip to the conference tournament since 2017 when they were 1-2, but opened the conference tournament with a win over 5^th-seeded Winthrop
• Annie Bakenhus leads the team with a .341 batting average with 30 runs, nine doubles and 22 RBI
• Jade Gandara leads the team with 32 RBI while Caitlyn Emberson leads the team with seven homeruns and second with 30 RBI
• Arizona Pilgrim leads the team with 42 appearances (27 starts) in the circle as she's 10-19 with a 3.60 ERA
• Holly Clark has 21 starts and 37 appearances with a 7-13 record and 4.74 ERA

 
GLANCE AT THE EAGLES

• Finished the season strong with a 10-4 record in final 14 games including a 3-1 record last week on the road to close out the regular season
• No matter the outcome of the conference tournament the Eagles will finish above .500 for the first time since the 2015 season
• Ashley Westbrooks, Morgan Lowers and Madyson Watson all earned All-Conference honors
• Blake Wallert was voted the Big South Scholar Athlete of the Year
• Lowers leads the team with a .335 batting average and has scored a career-high 35 runs which also leads the team
• In her career, Lowers is batting .486 (17-for-35) with six runs, two doubles, a homerun and six RBI in 10 career conference tournament games
• She also led the team in batting in neutral site games (12) with a .512 average, 10 runs, three doubles, three triples, three homeruns and 14 RBI
• Westbrooks is enjoying another solid season with a .307 average, 26 runs, seven doubles, five homeruns and a team-high 32 RBI
• In her two conference tournaments she's played seven games and is 10-for-24 (.417) with 10 runs, three walks, two doubles, a homerun and seven RBI
• Ansley Gilreath has also been strong in the postseason going 9-for-20 (.450) with two runs, two doubles, four walks, a homerun and nine RBI in seven conference tournament games
• Watson leads the Eagles in the circle with a 14-4 record was a perfect 9-0 against league competition
• Watson had an ERA of 2.50 and had 112 strikeouts to 38 walks in 142.2 innings
• Kiley Majette is 8-13 on the year and has a 4.13 ERA with 114 strikeouts to 39 walks in 123.2 innings
• Majette has three career wins in conference tournament play and two shutouts
• In neutral site games this year Majette was 3-2 with a 1.85 ERA and 27 strikeouts to six walks in 22.2 innings

 
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 430-360 and a record of 262-268 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 14^th in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll while South Carolina is ranked 16^th
• Despite losing the series to the Eagles last week, USC Upstate received a vote in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25
• Currently the Eagles have seven opponents in the Top 125 of RPI and four in the Top 75
• There are 10 opponents that have a winning record and 12 at .500 or better as of Apr. 30

 
EAGLES AMONG NATIONAL LEADERS

• Brooke Ellison enters the week ranked 10^th nationally in triples and 14^th in triples per game
• Keleigh Romine and Ashley Westbrooks entered the week 36^th in the country in sacrifice flies
• Eagles as a team rank 40^th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.42)

 
WATSON TABBED BIG SOUTH PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Watson was 2-0 on the week with a 0.78 ERA and helped the Eagles to a 3-1 week to end the regular season. She began her week with a start at UNC Greensboro as the Eagles rallied in the seventh inning to earn a 6-3 win. The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the game as Watson tossed the first three innings allowing one hit. After being replaced to start the fourth she returned to get the Eagles out of a jam and the three outs. Watson went on allowing just one hit over the final four innings. Trailing 3-2 in the top of the seventh, the Eagles took a 4-3 lead and then Watson made it 6-3 with a two-run double.
In the second game of the Charleston Southern series, she helped the Eagles earn a doubleheader split by tossing a complete game allowing one unearned run on eight hits with no walks and four strikeouts. The win was her 14^th of the season and remained unbeaten in league play at 9-0. She scored the game-winning run in the eighth inning as she scored on a two-run homerun by Ansley Gilreath. Watson started the final game of the regular season but didn't factor into the decision but got the rally started in the seventh with a leadoff single as Gilreath once again hit a two-run homerun to take the lead.
 
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.
 
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