Rock Hill, S.C.— Winthrop softball hosts Charleston Southern Apr. 19-20 in a key Big South Conference series.
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN (21-21, 7-5 Big South) at (WINTHROP (18-25, 5-7 Big South)
WHERE: Rock Hill, S.C. |
Terry Field
WHEN: Friday, Apr. 19 (4:00 p.m.) | Saturday, Apr. 20 (1:00 p.m. doubleheader)
LIVE STATS: Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3
ESPN+: Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3
FOLLOW: @Winthropsoftbal
SERIES HISTORY WITH CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
- Winthrop and Charleston Southern have met 122 times
- The Eagles lead the all-time series 80-42 and have won four of the last five series
- The Bucs swept the Eagles in N. Charleston, S.C. to end the 2023 season
GLANCE AT THE EAGLES
- Eagles looking to end a four-game skid
- Currently sitting in a tie for 3rd place in the Big South standings with Gardner-Webb at 5-7
- Just finished up playing eight of the last nine games on the road
- Play all six remaining conference games at home and seven of its final eight regular season games
- Rank 2nd in stolen bases in the Big South, 3rd in strikeouts and doubles, 4th in ERA and 5th in batting average
- KaDedra Temple has been on a tear the last 12 games, improving her batting from .242 to a team-leading .320 in that span
- Temple has also taken over the team lead in RBI with 22 (10 RBI in last 12 games)
- Temple currently has a streak seven straight games reaching base
- In conference play Temple is batting a team-high .412 with seven runs and seven RBI
- Ashton VanHouse is second on the team with a .312 average and is second on the team in runs (16)
- VanHouse has 17 stolen bases on the year and is 5th in the league
- Reese Basinger is third on the team with a .283 average as she had an eight-game hitting streak coming to an end at Longwood (was 0-for-10 in the Longwood series)
- Basinger is second on the team with 20 RBI
- Emma Jackson is fourth on the team with a .276 batting average and leads the team with a .442 on-base percentage (Ranked 3rd in the Big South)
- Paige Rivas is fourth in the Big South with 22 stolen bases and her team-high 25 runs rank 7th in the conference
- Paige Rivas has now scored 20 or more runs in three straight seasons
- As a team the Eagles have 66 stolen bases on the year (66-for-74), which are two away from the program's single-season Top 10
- Winthrop is 45th nationally in stolen bases per game and tied for 37th in total stolen bases (as of games through Apr. 17)
- Paige Rivas is tied for 20th nationally in stolen bases while VanHouse is 61st (as of Apr. 18)
- Basinger and Megan Powell lead way in the circle
- Basinger has a 9-13 record with a 2.64 ERA with 109 strikeouts and 37 walks in 143.0 innings
- Powell is 6-8 with an ERA of 3.45 with 88 strikeouts and 61 walks in 95.1 innings
- Powell started at #22 South Carolina and tossed 6.2 innings allowing one run on four hits with eight strikeouts and four walks
- It was the fourth start this season she's struck out at least eight
- In game two of the Gardner-Webb series Powell tossed a complete game shutout, allowing just four hits
- Basinger is 5th in the league in ERA
- Basinger is second in the Big South in strikeouts with 113 and Powell is tied for 7th with 88
- In opposing batting average Powell is 2nd and Basinger is 8th
- Powell is tied for the league lead in batters struck out looking (31) and Basinger is 4th
- Pounded out a season-high 16 hits in an 11-3 win at Wofford (Mar. 13)
- The 16 hits were the most since Apr. 6, 2019 when the Eagles had 21 in the first game of a doubleheader at Radford
- The 11 runs were the most in a single-game since the Eagles had 10 on Apr. 15, 2022 at Gardner-Webb
- This is the 51st season in the history of the Winthrop softball program
- On Saturday, Feb. 10 the Eagles defeated North Carolina A&T 2-1 on a walk-off in the 3000th game in program history
- This will be the 3,041st, 3,042nd and 3,043rd games in program history as the Eagles hold an all-time record of 1,238-1,099-3
- Captured 1,200th victory in program history on Feb. 18 in a 7-2 victory over North Carolina A&T at Terry Field
LOOKING BACK AT 2023
- Eagles finished one game outside of the Top 4 in the league standings
- Lost the last nine games of the season, but still finished with a winning record at 26-24
- Return a lot of experience with nine field players that were either regular starters or saw significant playing time throughout the season
- The team's leading batter from last season returns in Paige Rivas, who led with a .329 average
- Paige Rivas also led the team in stolen bases with 15, on-base percentage (.435) and walks with 26
- KaDedra Temple was second on the team with 20 RBI last season and tied with Paige Rivas for second on the team with 25 runs
- Temple also led the team in doubles and home runs
- In the circle the Eagles return 2023 First Team All-Big South selection Reese Basinger, who turned in one of the best seasons in program history
- Basinger set career-highs with 15 wins, an ERA of 1.97 and had 212 strikeouts
- She was the first Eagle with 200-plus strikeouts since Shahna Ashard had 216 in 2005
- Basinger tossed a perfect game on Mar. 25 in a 6-0 win over S.C. State
- Ashton VanHouse who was third on the team in stolen bases with 11 and Temple was fourth with 10
HEAD COACH KENDALL FULLER
- Kendall Fuller is in her second stint with the Eagles
- She joined the Winthrop staff as an assistant coach in 2013, was promoted to Associate head coach in the fall of 2014 and with three games remaining in the 2015 season was promoted to Co-Head Coach with Mark Cooke
- Fuller remained Co-Head Coach for the 2016 and 2017 seasons
- In July of 2020 she was named the head softball coach at Lees-McRae and in three seasons compiled a 65-68 overall record
- Led the team to a 32-18 mark in 2023, setting the program record for victories in a single-season
- That season they had a runner-up finish in the Conference Carolinas regular season
- For the team's success in 2023, Fuller was named the Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year
- In her two-plus seasons as Co-Head Coach of the Eagles, Fuller is 60-99 (125-167 career record)
RECORD BOOK WATCH/CAREER MILESTONES
- Reese Basinger
- Has 451 career strikeouts in three seasons, which ranks 7th all-time in program history
- Became the 9th pitcher in program history to reach 400 career strikeouts
- Trails 6th place by 31 strikeouts
- Has a career ERA of 2.34, which ranks 9th all-time in program history (478.1 innings pitched)
- Has 34 career wins (34-40) and is one win away from 12th all-time (2 back of 11th)
- Grayson Buckner (includes stats from Lees-McRae)
- Is closing in on 100 career hits (84)
- Emma Jackson (includes stats from Lees-McRae)
- Reached 100 career hits and now has 103
- Paige Rivas
- In four seasons with the Eagles she's stolen 62 bases, 5th all-time (5 behind 3rd)
- Became just the 6th player in program history to reach 50 career stolen bases and 5th to reach 60
- In her career she has 67 stolen bases
- Has 138 hits as an Eagle and rank 28th on the all-time hit list (143 career hits) and is seven hits away from 27th (9 from 26th and 11 from 25th place)
- Megan Powell (includes stats from Lees-McRae)
- Recently surpassed 100 career hits (114) and surpassed 100 career RBI (102)
- Hit a three-run home run in the final game of the Longwood series, which was the 25th of her career (4th as an Eagle)
- In the circle, Powell reached 400 strikeouts (417) at Radford (Game 1 of doubleheader)
- The shutout vs. Gardner-Webb was the ninth of her career
- Ashton VanHouse
- Has 65 career stolen bases, 4th on the all-time list (2 behind 3rd place and 6 behind 2nd)
- Became just the 5th player in program history to reach 50 career stolen bases and 4th to reach 60
- Reached 100th career hit in the series at Longwood (104)
2024 SEASON HONORS
- Reese Basinger (Big South Pitcher of the Week / Feb. 20)
- Went 3-1 on the week with a 1.50 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 23.1 innings
- First win on the week came in relief at UNC Greensboro
UP NEXT
Winthrop will be off until Tuesday, Apr. 30 when it hosts the College of Charleston in a single-game scheduled for 4 p.m. The Eagles will turn around and play at North Carolina the next day (May 1) with a 6 p.m. start.
For everything Winthrop softball visit
www.winthropeagles.com or follow us on social media @Winthropsoftbal, winthropsoftball (Instagram) or
www.facebook.com/Winthrop-Softball.
