The Softball Team Continues to Soar Late into the 2026 Season
Omar Woods
Sports Editor
Photo by Tim Cowie
Winthrop softball player grounds ball
Since the end of the 2023 season, the Winthrop Softball team has consistently been able to maintain a positive record throughout their seasons. This year is looking to be no different with the softball team currently boasting a pleasant 24–18 record.
The softball team has shown major displays of success throughout this season despite having a rough season opening where they started the season 0–4. On March 20 and 21, the softball team swept Gardner-Webb 3–0. The softball team similarly swept Charleston Southern on March 27 and 28 by the same margin of 3–0.
So far in the season, freshman outfielder Rebecca Amos has led the team in runs scored with junior infielder Peyton Bryden only slightly behind her with 37 runs. Peyton Bryden also currently leads in RBI’s for the season having 36.
As it stands, the softball team has only dropped three games to Big South teams this season. They are currently on top of the leaderboards in the Big South with a record of 9–3.
Kendall Fuller, the softball head coach, has led the softball team since the beginning of August in 2023. Coach Fuller is not a stranger to Winthrop Softball as she was an assistant coach for the program in 2013 and then later became an associate coach and co-head coach in the following years up until 2018.
In the years following her return to Winthrop softball, she was the head coach of the Lees-McRae softball team. While there, she managed to coach a record-breaking season for the school boasting a regular season record of 32–18.
Coach Fuller mentioned that much of the success they have obtained this season comes from the well-roundedness of the team. She explained that every player did their part when it came down to it.
“This team is really fun to work with because we have to win as a team,” Fuller said. “We have really good hitters on our team and good pitchers but it takes all of them to win. It’s not the case where times in the past we’ve had really successful pitchers that could shut-out teams and we’d only have to score one or two runs … This year, it’s definitely team wins we are having.”
Junior infielder Peyton Bryden shared identical sentiments about what exactly made the team so efficient this season. She shared the idea that a softball game cannot be won by just one person.
“I think we really realized that it’s not one or two people that can do it,” Bryden said.
“Everyone in the line-up is contributing whether they’re a starter or on the bench but then comes in later in the game. Really, everyone is bringing something in and adding to our success.”
Coach Fuller also gave her acknowledgement to the positive culture that the team extrudes. She mentioned that the team has great chemistry with each other and are eager to continue getting better day by day.
“You can tell that they’re just super happy to see everybody succeed. Very selfless team and one that really gets along well. I’d say team culture as far as this being my third season here is at an all-time high,” Fuller said.
The outlook for the remainder of the season remains positive with the softball team’s win against their series with USC Upstate who are currently in second place behind Winthrop. USC Upstate were also the defending Big South Conference champions from the 2025 softball season.The softball team’s next game will be a three game series away against Longwood on April 18 and 19. The game will be available to view on the streaming platform ESPN+.
