RALEIGH, N.C. – The present and future of Longwood softball appear to be in good hands.
 
The freshman trio of Haleigh Kilby, Kelsey Sweeney and Glenn Walters propelled Longwood to an 8-4 victory in the first game of the day against Binghamton. The trio combined for five hits, four runs and three RBI in the game.
 
Meanwhile, senior Megan Baltzell blasted a pair of home runs in the second contest of the day to lift the Lancers to a 5-1 victory over 25th-ranked NC State.
 
Sophomore Elizabeth McCarthy also put together a couple of strong outings in the circle for Longwood, picking up a pair of victories. McCarthy pitched 11 innings in the two games, allowing five runs off seven hits and six walks. McCarthy also posted 10 strikeouts throughout the day.
 
With the pair of wins, head coach Kathy Riley now owns 596 career victories and is four shy of her elusive 600th career win as a head coach. Longwood also improves to 5-12 on the season. 
 
Longwood returns to action Saturday for two more games in the NC State Hyatt Place Invitational. The Lancers will face Lipscomb at 9 a.m., before facing Fordham at 11:15 a.m.
 
Longwood 8, Binghamton 4
Longwood's freshman trio of Haleigh Kilby, Kelsey Sweeney and Glenn Walters combined for five hits, four runs and three RBI as Longwood earned an 8-4 victory over Binghamton in the first game of the day.
 
"Overall, I thought we were pretty solid," said Longwood head coach Kathy Riley. "We got behind 2-0 and came back and then got down 4-2 and came back. The responses of not letting it get to us was impressive."
 
The Lancers matched a season-high three home runs in the contest, as Walters, Kilby and Chelsea Sciacca powered the Lancer offense. Six different Lancers recorded hits with Walters notching her first multi-hit game as a Lancer along with Sweeney.
 
"They really do a nice job of adjusting while the game is going on and they don't really let things get to them," Riley said. "If they have a bad at-bat, they really focus on bouncing back the next at-bat."
 
Sophomore Elizabeth McCarthy (3-5) got the start in the circle for Longwood and went 5.2 innings, allowing four runs off four hits and three walks to pick up her second straight victory. The sophomore recorded five strikeouts in the effort and limited the Bearcat offense to a one hit after the second inning.
 
"It's real easy to settle in when you have offense producing and defense that you can obviously trust playing behind you," McCarthy said. "It was nice to not have my best stuff and still come out with a big win, because of my defense and offense. I really owe that to them."
 
Sarah Miller (5-3) took the loss for Binghamton, giving up six runs in 5.1 innings, five of which were earned, off five hits and three walks. She also notched four strikeouts.
 
The Bearcats struck first in the bottom of the first inning, as Lisa Cadogan hit the first of two home runs on the day for Binghamton – both of which were two-run blasts.
 
After Chelsea Sciacca avoided a double play ball the next half inning, Walters came to the plate and belted her first career homer to left center to tie the game at 2-2.
 
"It felt really good," Walters said of her first career homerun. "It was exciting to see my whole team cheering for me."
 
However, Binghamton responded the next half inning. Bridgett Hunt led off the frame with a walk, before Taylor Chaffee hit the second long ball of the game to regain a two-run advantage for her team.
 
Longwood was able to get one of the runs back in the top half of the third inning, as Megan Baltzell scored Justina Augustine from first base after Binghamton left fielder Jessica Rutherford misplayed the ball off Baltzell's bat.
 
After a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half of the third, Kilby led off the fourth by lifting the second pitch she saw from Miller to straight away center field to tie the game at 4-4. The Lancers had an opportunity to score more runs after loading the bases with no outs, but were unable to capitalize on the opportunity.
 
Two innings later, Kilby led off the sixth inning with a four-pitch walk, before Sweeney moved her into scoring position with a sac bunt. Sciacca came to the plate and launched a homerun to the deepest part of the ballpark to give Longwood its first lead of the day.
 
The Lancers added to their lead later in the inning after Carly Adams knocked a single through the right side to bring around Walters. Adams was able to advance to third base on the play following a throwing error on Binghamton's Sydney Harbaugh. One batter later, Lifsey brought her home with a sacrifice bunt.
 
McCarthy exited the game after getting the first two outs in the bottom of the fifth and Libby Morris came on in relief to close out the game. Morris pitched 1.1 innings and allowed no runs off one walk.
 
Longwood 5, No. 25 NC State 1
Megan Baltzell hit two solo home runs and Longwood added two runs in the top of the sixth, as the Lancers picked up a 5-1 victory over 25th-ranked NC State.
 
The win over the Wolfpack marked the first win over a ranked foe for the Lancers since the blue and white earned a 4-1 victory over No. 25 Depaul on March 25, 2012. It also marks the first three-game win streak of the season for the Lancers.
 
"Probably the most impressive thing about the second game was that it was a real team effort," Riley said. "We had good pitching, good defensive plays and some timely hitting. I thought we played some real good all-around softball."
 
Baltzell led the Lancers at the plate, as the senior was 2-for-2 at the plate with two solo home runs and three runs scored. With the two blasts, Baltzell sits two homers shy of Longwood's all-time home run mark of 55 from Brooke Short.
 
McCarthy (4-5) picked up her second victory of the day, going 5.1 innings and giving up one earned run off three hits and three walks. The sophomore southpaw also struck out five batters.
 
"With Coach Riley calling pitches, we knew that facing NC State that we were going to have to move the ball around and do a lot of different things to get outs and mis-hit balls," McCarthy said. "I went deep into counts because I was trying to mix up things and work different quadrants of the plate."
 
Morris came on in relief of McCarthy and was able to get five big outs, going 1.2 innings and allowing just one hit while walking one batter. Morris also added a strikeout.

Courtney Mirabella (4-3) took the loss for the Wolfpack, pitching all seven innings and giving up five runs, including three earned, off five hits and two walks. Mirabella also struck out 12 Lancers which was two shy of her career-high of 14 strikeouts.
 
Baltzell launched her first homer of the game in the top of the first inning, sending a pitch to left field just over the outstretched glove of NC State left fielder Tyler Ross to give the Lancers the early 1-0 lead.
 
NC State (11-8) answered in the bottom half of the inning, as Meredith Burroghs launched her fourth home run of the season on a solo blast to right field. Following the homerun, NC State loaded the bases before Renada Davis flied out to Walters in center field and the freshman threw a strike to Baltzell to the plate to get NC State's Hanna Yeager trying to score on a sacrifice fly to end the inning.
 
"I felt comfortable to make that throw to Megan," Walters said. "It was good to see everyone cheering me on. It helped boost my confidence and just helps me know that I can do that on a regular basis."
 
Baltzell added her second blast of the day in the top of the fourth inning, sending a pitch to left center field to regain a one run advantage for the Lancers.
 
Longwood added two insurance runs in the sixth inning. Emily Murphy walked to leadoff the inning, before NC State starter Courtney Mirabella intentionally walked Baltzell two batters later. Kilby came to the plate and placed a one out single into left field to score Murphy from second. The play brought Baltzell to third base and Sweeney brought her home one batter later with a sacrifice fly to center field.
 
Longwood added another run in the top of the seventh inning, as Murphy advanced to third on a ball hit to right field, but the hit brought home Krista Kelly to give the Lancers a 5-1 lead.
 
The first two batters reached base in the bottom of the seventh, as Morgan Tharrington led off the inning with a single to right field and advanced to second base off a walk to Alyssa Compton. Davis followed with a groundball to straight to Kilby, as she started a double play when she stepped on the bag at third and fired a strike to Kelsey Sweeney at first base to get Davis by a half step.
 
McCarthy – who replaced Morris in the circle with one out in the inning – struck out Van Dyken to end the game and give Longwood its third straight victory.
 
"It's great to come out with a win over NC State," McCarthy said. "It's nice to prove to people what Longwood can do."
 
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