March 7, 2009

BOX SCORE: Syracuse 4, Longwood 0

BOX SCORE: Cal State Fullerton 10, Longwood 9 (8)

LAKEWOOD, Calif. – The Longwood University softball team fell to Syracuse 4-0 and Cal State Fullerton 10-9 in eight innings on Saturday at the Long Beach State Invitational. Nichole Simmons/Chesapeake, Va. (Hickory) went 2-for-4 with two home runs, including a grand slam, in the Lancers game against Cal State Fullerton. Longwood returns to action on Sunday when they take on UCLA?at noon ET.

In the first game Longwood (6-8) faced Syracuse (10-5) and shut the Orange out in the first two innings. Syracuse scored three runs in the third inning, two of them coming on a Jamie Kelling triple to left field. Kelling would come around to score on a Hallie Gibbs single. Longwood almost answered in the bottom half of the inning when Ashley Kramer/Ashburn, Va. (Broad Run) singled to left field with two outs. Camille Ketsdever/Irvine, Calif. (Irvine) followed with a double to left field, sending Kramer to third. Emily Radford/Tacoma, Wash. (Fife)?grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning. The Lancers had another scoring opportunity in the fourth inning. It started with an Amy Betterton/Rocky Mount, Va. (Franklin County) single. She advanced to second on a Courtney Long/Mechanicsville, Va. (Hanover) sacrifice bunt. Kami Nuckols/Glen Allen, Va. (Patrick Henry) came in to run for Betterton and tried to go home from second base on a Maggie Margadonna/Sea Girt, N.J. (Wall Township) single. Nuckols was thrown out at the plate. Briana Wells/Romoland, Calif. (Paloma Valley) started in the circle for the Lancers and gave up three runs on 10 hits while striking out three. Brittany Spencer/Virginia Beach, Va. (First Colonial) came in to pitch the seventh inning and gave up one unearned run on one hit.   

The Lancers fell behind early against Cal State Fullerton (8-11). The Titans scored six runs in the second inning, all of them on home runs. Lauren Lupinetti hit a grand slam and Torrie Anderson hit a two run shot, both off Spencer who got the start in the second game. Morgan LeMond led off the third inning with another home run, making the score 7-0. The Lancers' bats came alive in the fourth inning. Ketsdever got the action started with a single to center field. Radford doubled to right field, scoring Ketsdever. After Betterton grounded out, Long doubled down the right field line, scoring Radford. With the bases loaded, Simmons stepped to the plate and sent the 1-0 pitch over the center field wall for the first grand slam of her career.?Longwood added another run in the top of the fifth inning when Ketsdever drew a leadoff walk. She advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Betterton double. Cal State Fullerton scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth but Longwood got one of them back in the top of the sixth on Simmons' second home run of the game, a solo shot to center field. Neither team scored in the seventh but the Titans scored with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Simmons posted five RBI in the Cal State Fullerton game, matching her season total. She leads the team with 10 RBI and four home runs. Long, hitting a team-best .367, went 1-for-4 with one RBI in the two games.