The Winthrop Eagles have been taking that on all season.

"Playing that competition we played earlier this season is really going to help us," pitcher Cari Wool-dridge said. "We can go in strong."

Winthrop (36-17) has played five teams in the Top 25 already this season and two more that either were ranked at the time or have received votes. The Eagles beat Auburn and Oregon State and lost to Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, DePaul and California besides playing other "name" schools like Georgia Tech, South Carolina and N.C. State.

Although the win-loss record wasn't good against those (a combined 3-10), it achieved the goal coach Mark Cooke desired when he made the schedule.

"We've always scheduled to open big and see what happens," Cooke said. "We don't play to win, we play to get better."

All he had to do was schedule 30 or so cupcakes, thus perhaps surpassing the school-record 50 wins the team set last year. But then the Eagles' RPI, a crucial factor in determining postseason placement, would have been too low to have a chance of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Better to throw a lot at the team in the beginning, toughen it up and wait for conference play. That plan worked just fine -- the Eagles were 14-1 in the regular season and cruised through the Big South tournament with the minimum amount of games.

Winthrop's RPI was 63rd before the BSC tournament, a few spots lower than Cooke reckoned it should be, but then again, figuring the RPI isn't an exact science. Losing at least 10 games to rainouts didn't help and when conference foe Radford -- 55th in the RPI -- bowed out before the tournament championship, the Eagles were denied a chance to beat the Highlanders again and cinch a few more RPI points.

Still, the numbers didn't hurt. Although Cooke didn't think Winthrop merited a fourth seed in its regional, he at least appreciated being matched up with two familiar teams.

"We went to Tennessee last year, so we pretty much know them, and we've already played Virginia Tech," he said. "This year, (we've) liked playing the good competition."

Winthrop begins with the Volunteers, a tough matchup but one the Eagles think they can win. Tennessee doesn't look nearly as unstoppable without ace pitcher Monica Abbott, who graduated last year after leading the Vols to three straight Women's College World Series.

Not that the Eagles are taking that absence lightly. Tennessee still won 47 games without her.

"We know who we're playing and we know how we can play," second baseman Sarah Magee said. "As long as we're on our game, we can advance."