ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop softball won nine of its final 10 games to finish third in the Big South Conference standings and earn the third seed in this week's conference championship in Buies Creek, NC.
Winthrop will take on sixth-seeded Presbyterian College in the first round on Thursday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the game will play at 4:30 p.m. on Friday against the winner of second-seeded Coastal Carolina and seventh-seeded Campbell. The loser of the matchup will play at 11:30 a.m. on Friday in an elimination game. This is the highest seed for the Eagles since 2010 when they were seeded third and reached the conference championship game.
Winthrop finished the regular season 25-23 overall and 14-9 in the Big South. The Eagles started league play 1-5 with the absence of their best hitter, sophomore
Maddie Antone. Upon her return, the Eagles finished the season 13-4 that included regular season series sweeps of Campbell, Gardner-Webb and Liberty.
During that recent stretch, the Eagles were 8-2 in games decided by 1-2 runs and were 5-2 when trailing after five innings. The team won five games in its final at-bat with four of them walk-off victories as it averaged 4.9 runs per game in the final 17 contests.
The last time these two teams met, the Eagles scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh for an 8-7 victory and a series clinching win. It was a two-run single by senior
Kristy Noble that gave the Eagles the win. This will be the first time that Winthrop and Presbyterian College square off in the conference tournament.
Over the last 17 games, Antone has batted .341 with 17 runs and 14 RBI. Senior
Kelsey Ritter has driven in 15 and has six home runs while redshirt sophomore
Leah Young has 10 runs and 11 RBI in that stretch. Antone and Ritter are tied for the team lead in RBI with 34.
The Eagles have a pitching rotation that includes senior's
Sara Allen and
Sutton Watson along with junior
Dallas King. Over the last 17 games Watson has tossed the most innings with 46.2 and is 6-1 with a 2.55 ERA to go along with 42 strikeouts and 12 walks. Allen is 3-2 in that span with a 2.89 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 43.2 innings. King is 4-1 with a 3.43 ERA and 25 strikeouts to seven walks in 34.2 innings.
Despite finishing third in the league standings, the Eagles might have a little extra motivation heading into the tournament as they were the only team in the league not to place an individual on the All-Big South First or Second Team. Antone received Honorable Mention honors.
Winthrop is 51-43 all-time in the Big South Tournament and has won its first round game the last two years. This will mark just the second time the Eagles have played a conference championship hosted by Campbell as they were 1-2 in the 1993 tournament as the fourth seed. It also marks just the third time in the program's history that the Eagles will be seeded third as they are 6-4 in that seeding. Winthrop and PC have never met in the tournament. Winthrop head coach
Mark Cooke is currently tied for the most conference tournament victories in the league history with 48.
The Blue Hose finished the regular season 22-24 overall and 10-12 in the league. They finished the season dropping a series at home against Campbell, but won the final game 4-2. PC did not get swept by any team in the league this season.
Offensively the Blue Hose rank 3
rd in the league in team batting at .290 and are led by All-Big South selections Erin Ruff and Shelby Petik. Ruff, a second baseman, batted .338 with 35 runs, five doubles, eight home runs and 24 RBI. Petki earned all-conference honors in the outfield as she batted .331 with 32 runs, nine doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 38 RBI. Hope Rogers leads the team with a .364 average and has 24 runs and 29 RBI.
Rogers is 6-for-10 with three runs and four RBI against the Eagles this season while Ruff is 4-for-11 with four runs and four RBI.
Kensley Loudermelk leads the pitching staff as she's 12-9 on the year with a 3.44 ERA and 100 strikeouts to 50 walks in 132.1 innings. Sydney Seigler is 5-10 on the year with a 3.84 ERA with 48 strikeouts in 102 innings.
