LYNCHBURG, Va. – Despite winning its first three Big South series of the season, Longwood had yet to win a series opener. That changed in Tuesday's doubleheader at Liberty Softball Stadium, as the Lancers swept the Flames to clinch their fourth straight conference series win.

Longwood (13-18, 8-3) capitalized on Liberty's defensive miscues in the first game for a 10-2 victory, before erupting for 12 runs on 15 hits in the second game for a 12-6 win.

"I thought we fought hard in both games today," head coach Kathy Riley said. "I was encouraged by our performance and it feels good to come away with a pair of wins."  

Megan Baltzell continued her extraordinary run at the plate, adding two more home runs to her Longwood resume to go along with a three-RBI double. After going 4-of-5 with four home runs in the Presbyterian series last weekend, Baltzell is now 7-of-8 with six home runs and one double.

"I was just trying to get hits," Baltzell said. "Once you get into that groove, you feel like you can't be stopped. I was just trying to help my team, stay patient in the box and hit the ball."

The senior has homered in five straight games and ends the month of March by hitting 12 round-trippers. Despite only being eligible for Longwood's three seasons as a member of the Big South for the conference home run record, Baltzell sits six home runs shy of the all-time career mark with 53 homers held by Liberty's Jessica Moore.

"She's been really good for us since the tournament at NC State," Riley said. "You can really tell in her demeanor, how calm she is at the plate and that's made a huge difference not only in her offense but with her catching as well. She really sets a tone for our team."

Elizabeth McCarthy (9-8) continues to shine in the circle for the Lancers, as she limited the Liberty (15-18, 4-4) offense to just two runs in the 10 innings she pitched throughout the afternoon. McCarthy matched her career strikeout mark of 10 in the first game of the afternoon for the third time this season and the fifth time overall. The southpaw has 106 strikeouts on the season, just 39 shy of her freshman mark of 145.

"She's been performing well for us," Riley said. "We've been leaning on her over the past few games, because Libby's [Morris] has been hurt and Jenna's working on a few things in terms of her mechanics on several pitches. She changed her mindset coming into this year and that's really helped her."

Katie Shinrock also had a big day at the plate to go along with strong defensive play at third base. Shinrock finished the afternoon 4-for-8 at the plate with four RBI and a pair of runs scored. Glenn Walters extended her streak of reaching base safely to four games after drawing three walks in the first game, before going 2-for-4 with a run scored in the night cap.

With the pair of victories, Longwood earns its fourth straight Big South series victory to open the season. Furthermore, the Lancers overtook the Flames for second place in the Big South standings.

"We started to get ready before we got on the bus today," Riley said. "I told them yesterday to start thinking about Liberty and to get mentally prepared."

The Lancers will go for the series sweep Wednesday, April 1, as the finale from Liberty Softball Stadium against the Flames is set for 4 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN3.

Longwood 10, Liberty 2 (6)
Longwood took advantage of four Liberty errors in the first game of the afternoon to take a 10-2 run rule victory in six innings.

The run rule decision improves Longwood to 2-1 in games decided by the run rule this season in conference play.

McCarthy was near flawless in the circle for the Lancers after giving up two runs in the bottom of the first inning. After that inning, McCarthy didn't allow a run and finished with a line of two runs on six hits and two walks in six innings of work. It marked the fifth straight complete game performance for the southpaw, dating back to a 1-0 loss at Virginia Tech Wednesday, March 25.

 In addition, McCarthy also matched her career strikeout mark of 10 strikeouts for the third time this season and fifth time in her career.

"Coach Riley and Coach Kayla have really been helping me in terms of being ready from the first pitch and trying to set the tone for the rest of the team," McCarthy said. "It's easy to get comfortable and find a groove when your offense is clicking and putting runs on the board like it was today to provide a big cushion."

Six of the nine Lancers that stepped up to the plate recorded hits in the game, including a two-hit performance from Justina Augustine and Katie Shinrock. Getting her second start of the season at third base, Shinrock led the Lancers with a 2-for-4 performance with three RBI and a run scored.

"My approach today was just to see the ball and hit it hard," Shinrock said. "I had a really good warmup today, so I just tried to stick with it."
Although, Longwood has won each of its three conference series this season, the Lancers had not earned a victory in the series opener until Tuesday afternoon.

After scoring one run in the top of the first inning, the Lancers scored three runs in three different innings. Longwood was able to take advantage of Liberty's mistakes in the second inning, as the Lancers were able to score three runs off three Liberty errors.

Baltzell tallied her fifth home run in her last six at bats to lead off the fifth inning, before Shinrock tallied a two-RBI single through the right side later in the frame to score Glenn Walters and Jamie Barbour.

Longwood posted its third three-run inning in the top of the sixth. After the Lancers loaded the bases, Kelsey Sweeney posted her second RBI in as many games with a single to left field to plate Emily Murphy. Carly Adams followed with an RBI single to right field to score Baltzell and Walters drew her third of three walks in the game to bring in Jamie Barbour – who came on as a pinch runner for Sweeney.

Chandler Ball (10-7) took the loss for Liberty, giving up seven runs, two of which were earned, off six hits and six walks. She also struck out four Longwood batters.

Longwood 12, Liberty 6
The Lancer offense erupted for seven runs in the top of the second inning on the way to a 12-6 victory in the night cap of Tuesday's doubleheader at Liberty.

The Longwood bats awoke in a big way in the second game, spraying the ball throughout the field of play for 15 hits. The 15 hits is the second most for Longwood this season, only two shy of the 17 in the series finale at Winthrop earlier in the campaign.

Eight of the nine position players in the Lancer lineup recorded hits, with seven players notching multi-hit games. Baltzell paced the offense with a 2-of-2 performance including a three-RBI double and a long two-run blast for a loud exclamation mark in the seventh.

The Lancers broke the game open in the top of the second inning, scoring seven runs and sending 11 batters to the plate. After a two-RBI single from freshman Krista Kelly to get the Lancers on the board, Baltzell hit a bloop three-RBI double that dropped in left field to break the game open for a 5-0 Longwood lead.

The Lancers tacked on two more runs in the inning after a Chelsea Sciacca RBI single through the left side to bring home Baltzell and Sweeney backed that up with an RBI triple that got all the way to the left field wall and brought around Sciacca.

Meanwhile, McCarthy picked up where she left off in the circle with four strikeouts in three innings, before giving way to Jenna Carnes.

Sweeney notched her second RBI of the game and third of the day in the top of the sixth inning off an RBI single that brought in Murphy.

However, it was Baltzell who had the biggest hit of the night in the top of the seventh inning, as she gave a 2-0 pitch a ride to center field for her second extra base hit of the game and second home run of the day.  

"It was a 2-0 count and I knew she was going to try to groove it," Baltzell said. "I saw it right from her hand and went after it."

After Liberty tagged Carnes for six runs in three-plus innings of work, McCarthy was sent back to the circle to close the game. The win marked the fourth straight for McCarthy who allowed no runs off just two hits and a walk.

Kenzie Friesen (4-7) took the loss, allowing 12 runs – including 10 earned – on 15 hits and three walks in seven complete innings.

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