In the battle of Big South titans, the pre-season’s projected No. one and two seeds faced off in Farmville, Virginia for Tuesday night’s doubleheader. In the first game, Longwood (projected No. two) seemed as if the pre-season excitement was nothing more than excitement as they fell 13-2, enforcing the NCAA slaughter rule (one team is ahead by at least eight runs after five innings). Then, in the second game, it was a total flip, as Coastal Carolina University (projected No. one) couldn’t get their defense or offense, minus a high-scoring third inning,dropped that one 13-5.
In the first game of the doubleheader, Longwood’s sophomore pitcher Elizabeth McCarthy had trouble getting outs and locating her pitches. She threw over 100 in three innings, allowing 11 hits, nine earned runs, two walks and struck out two.
On the other side of the diamond, Coastal Carolina’s two-time Big South Pitcher of the Year senior Kiana Quolas pitched lights out versus the Lancers, allowing just five hits, two earned runs, two walks and she struck out three.
The only Lancer to score in this one was junior shortstop Emily Murphy who went 3-for-3 with two solo shots to left field and a single.
The Chanticleers were able to gain an offensive push from every player that stepped up to the plate, but one.
The Chanticleers recorded at least one run in four of the five innings, but the difference maker was an explosion of offense in the third inning; they scored six runs on seven hits.
The two loudest came from junior first baseman Kelsey Dominik, who hit a two run shot to dead center that landed in the middle of Main St., and senior shortstop Sara Rasley, who followed Dominik’s blast with one of her own, as the pair went back-to-back.
This gave Coastal a 9-1 lead heading into the fourth, paving the way for Quolas’ seventh win and McCarthy’s sixth loss.
Game two started differently for both teams as the Chanticleers were held scoreless in the top half of the first, while the Lancers scored six runs to start the game with a 6-0 lead,rather than the 2-1 hole in game one.
The offense didn’t slow down for the Lancers as they scored at least one run in all four innings they batted in. This caused the NCAA slaughter rule to go into effect. They did not bat in the bottom of the fifth.
The offense was led by senior catcher Megan Baltzell—just broke Longwood’s career home run record (56)—who hit a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth, this was her only hit of the game.
Defensively, Longwood’s senior pitcher Libby Morris went five innings, allowing five earned runs on seven hits, one walk and struck out six for her second win of the season (53 career, eight wins from being fourth all-time in Longwood history).
Coastal’s junior pitcher Mackenzie Conrad pitched the four innings after replacing Dominik in the first (didn’t record an out and allowed five earned runs) for the team as she allowed eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits, five walks and struck out one. Conrad was credited with the Chanticleers loss, her second of the season.
The rubber game is set for 3 p.m. EST at the Lancer Field in Farmville, Virginia. According to weather.com, it is set to be sunny with no cloud coverage and winds up to 4 MPH.
