Even though the school year was over the first week of May, there was no shortage of athletics action to be had during the dog days of summer. Whether on the field or off, here are some of the highlights for the Lancers this summer.
May 12: Softball wins conference championship
The softball team had the No. 3 seed heading into the Big South conference tournament at Rock Hill, S.C., on the campus of Winthrop University, from May 9-12. A 5-3 loss to in-state archrival Liberty on the first day of the competition didn’t hold much promise, but five wins over the next three days were enough to claim the first NCAA tournament appearance for any Longwood team since men's golf in 2007.
The 10-2, five-inning win over Winthrop was broadcast nationwide on ESPNU. That game ended with Kori Nishitomi’s walk-off drive to left field, scoring Carly Adams and Jordan Cox.
The Lancers went on to play in the Knoxville Regional with Tennessee, N.C. State and James Madison. A 9-0 loss to the Volunteers and 5-0 loss to the Dukes ended Longwood’s historic season at 41-20.
May 23: Baseball advances to conference semis
Like the softball team did before them, baseball lost their opening game of the Big South tournament in May.
An 11-3 upset over High Point the next morning set the stage for the seventh-seeded Lancers to play No. 6 Gardner-Webb in the third round at Liberty University. Aaron Myers had nine strikeouts in the complete game victory, as the Lancers beat the Bulldogs 6-5 after allowing two runs in the bottom of the ninth.
The next day, LU fell 8-6 to eventual conference runner-up Campbell, ending the legendary 35-season career of Buddy Bolding. Bolding retired with 953 wins at the helm of the program he started, and Brian McCullough is now in charge of a team looking to build on their success of last season.
July 22-23: Norris Cole visits Longwood Norris Cole of the two-time defending NBA champion Miami Heat was in Farmville in July,working with the men’s basketball team as they prepare for their second season in the Big South with an entirely new coaching staff.
Cole played under new head coach Jayson Gee at Cleveland State – where Gee was an assistant– and was on the team that upset fourth-seeded Wake Forest in the NCAA tournament in 2009.
The team returns many of last season’s lettermen in 2013-14, including T.T. Carey, Lucas Woodhouse and Brooklyn native Jeylani Dublin.
