Softball had a busy week playing two short series against James Madison University and Hampton University while also having a three game series against the Campbell Fighting Camels, a Big South team. The team was very successful by winning five of the seven games, giving them a record of 30-9. This is the 10th season out of the 17 that Head Coach Kathy Riley has been with the team where they reached a 30 win season. During the James Madison trip, the team split games with the Dukes. Junior Megan Baltzell went six for seven in the two games, scoring two runs.
Freshman pitcher Elizabeth McCarthy recorded a personal best of eight strikeouts and dropped her ERA to 1.99 in a winning effort. In the first game the team lost 2-4, but then came back in the second game and won 5-1. The next series against Hampton University was an offensive explosion coming from the Lancers. The Lancers won the first game 8-1, then the NCAA mercy rule got put into effect for the second game 16-1 in only five innings.
McCarthy picked up both wins in the series, picking up five strikeouts and no earned runs.
Baltzell went six for eight from the plate with two runs and two RBIs. Also, freshman Taylor Hedrick went three for four with three runs, four RBIs and also hit her second homer of the season.
Sophomore Emily Murphy drove in four RBIs in the offensive effort. Freshman Justina Augustine had a great day where she batted 1.000 at the plate going five for five and added a team best five RBIs and four runs. On the last series of the weekend, the Lancers played the Campbell Fighting Camels, winning the double header 6-1 and 8-0 mercy ruling the camels in five innings. The Lancers dropped the last game of the series 2-3.
In the double header, sophomore Carly Adams had three hits including a homerun, three runs and four RBIs. Junior Chelsea Sciacca hit her first homerun of the season, which was a grand slam.
Junior Libby Morris picked up her 14th win of the season in the first game, striking out five and giving up only one run on three hits. In the second game, McCarthy pitched a no-hitter for the first time since 2011, striking out one batter and giving up two walks.
In the series finale, Longwood had a 2-1 lead until the seventh inning where they gave up two runs resulting in the team’s ninth loss of the season.
“The Campbell series was a tale of two different performances,” said Riley. “Saturday we had excellent pitching, defense and timely hitting along with an energy that helped us dominate our opponents.
Sunday was quite the opposite with breakdowns in all of the previously mentioned areas. We made errors on ground ball communication, let a Campbell hitter get a double on a 1-2 pitch and left a lot of runners on who were in scoring position.” This upcoming weekend the Lancers travel to Conway, S.C. to play against Big South Conference opponent Coastal Carolina University in a three game series.
