The Lancer softball team started their second Big South season strong this past weekend in Farmville, coming away with three wins in the Longwood Spring Classic.
In the first game on Saturday against Towson, Longwood (3-1) scored at least a run in every inning, with Carly Adams having the walk-off RBI single in the sixth to win the game, 9-1. Libby Morris threw five shutout innings, only giving up one run and five hits while striking out two. Offensively, Emily Murphy went 3-for-3 while Adams went 4-for-4. Adams and Murphy both had two RBIs while Murphy and Megan Baltzell both hit home runs.
It wasn’t much harder against Lafayette, where Murphy went 3-for-3 again, and strong second and fourth innings helped get Longwood the win. Elizabeth McCarthy got the win in five innings of work, featuring five strikeouts and two earned runs against 22 batters.
“After not getting to play last weekend and taking on Towson, who already had eight games under their belt, we felt good about getting 10 hits and giving ourselves some opportunities,” said Head Coach Kathy Riley. “I did see areas that we can improve, but having young players puts us in a position where we have to be patient as that first third of the season goes along.”
After Saturday’s sweep, the same two teams were up next, and it was a similar story in the first game with the Lancers getting an 8-0 mercy-rule win over Lafayette in five innings. Katie Shinrock went 2-for-2, and Baltzell was 2-for-3. Jenna Carnes pitched five shutout innings, allowing only one hit and one walk. Against Towson there wasn’t nearly as much offense to be found, and the Lancers fell to the Tigers, 1-0, in eight innings. A Hailey Balk single to right-center scored Courtney Johnson, who was a pinch runner for Macie McGeehan. McCarthy took the loss with 7.1 innings, five hits and six strikeouts.
“I thought we did a nice job of keeping both Lafayette and Towson under control when it came to that,” Riley said. “We didn’t put ourselves in too many bad spots, but unfortunately, what we didn’t do as well was have a lot of good plate appearances. For us to become a good team by the end of the year, we will have to grow as an offensive group and have the younger players gain some maturity.
“We have five underclassmen starting, and if you count the freshmen pitchers we have more that are making an impact on whether or not we do well. Although it’s hard to talk about patience, it will require that patience on our part to continue to teach the game to them. Our goal is to be really good by the last third of the season.”
Over break, the Lancers will play in the Wildcat Invitational hosted by the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz. They face Texas-Arlington, Arizona, Indiana, Valparaiso and Iowa between Feb. 28 and March 2. They then travel to Tempe to play Arizona State on March 4 before hosting George Mason on March 12.
