2014 Season Outlook
games at short and eight games at third
base in 2013 as she finished with five home
runs and 15 RBI, both career-highs.
Ryder is a quick, athletic player and she
started two games at third last season and
came in as a defensively replacement in an-
other game. She made the most of her role
as a spot-starter and pinch-runner as she
finished the season with 11 runs, a home run
and three RBI.
OUTFIELD
The corners of the outfield will be guard-
ed by two seniors while sophomore Zharne
Glover will patrol center field. Senior Mckenzi
Corn, a preseason Big South Conference
Player of the Year candidate, will start in left
field. As a junior, Corn was named All-Big
South after batting .408 with 45 runs, 15
doubles, five home runs and 25 RBI. She be-
came the sixth different player in school his-
tory to bat .400 or better in a single-season.
She also led all outfielders with four assists.
The other senior will be Andrea as she
started 32 games there last season. Andrea
has shown the ability to be a clutch hitter
in her career and Cooke feels this season
could be her best one yet by far. In 2012 she
had eight RBI through the first seven games
and then had five RBI in a two-game span
on Mar. 9, 2012 before going into a slump.
She finished that season with a career-high
24 hits and 18 RBI.
Glover started her freshman year in
center, but couldn’t get the bat going as she
eventually gave way to Durante, a senior
centerfielder. Glover did make 18 starts and
ended up scoring 16 runs on the year as she
excelled in her role as a pinch-runner over
the second half of the season. She led the
team with six stolen bases.
Cooke noted that Stevens could also see
time in the outfield as she’s a good, versatile
player and they need to find a spot for her in
the lineup.
SCHEDULE
Not different from any season that Cooke
has been at the helm, the Lady Eagles will
once again be battle tested prior to its start
of Big South Conference play in mid-March.
Winthrop faces 14 opponents ranked in
the top 125 in the RPI in 2013. Of the 31 dif-
ferent teams Winthrop will face this season,
14 of them had winning records in 2013.
Four of its opponents had 40 or more wins
while 10 of them had 30 or more. Seven of
the Eagles opponents finish in the Top 3 of
their respective conferences.
The first 23 games are all in tournaments
as Winthrop will play in the Red & Black
Showcase (Athens, GA), Tiger Invitational
(Auburn, AL), Spartan Invitational (Spar-
tanburg, SC) and will once again host the
Combat Invitational and the Winthrop/adidas
Invitational.
Winthrop will face Georgia, James Madi-
son and USC Upstate which all won 40 or
more games last season as well as 41-game
winner Longwood in league play. Some of
the other notable matchups will be North
Texas, Nebraska-Omaha, Western Illinois,
Marshall, Loyola-Chicago, Robert Morris,
Maris, Connecticut and Eastern Kentucky.
After opening up with the first 23 games
away from home, Winthrop will then play its
next 16 games at Terry Field. The Eagles will
play 29 of their final 42 games at home.
Junior Sutton Watson pitched 185 of the team’s 377.1 innings in 2013
and posted a 17-15 record with 144 strikeouts
