LYNCHBURG, Va. – Sophomore Elizabeth McCarthy has tossed 734 pitches in an eight-day span, but her performance has seemingly gotten better with each pitch she has thrown.

McCarthy's performance culminated in her second career no-hitter Wednesday afternoon at Liberty Softball Stadium, helping the Lancers earn a 9-0 victory in five innings to complete three-game series sweep of Liberty.

McCarthy allowed three base runners throughout the afternoon on one walk and two hit batters to pick up her fifth straight victory and improve to a season-high three games above .500 at 11-8. She also struck out four Liberty batters in five scoreless innings throughout the afternoon.

"Coach Riley did a great job of calling pitches which helped to keep Liberty off balance," McCarthy said. "My defense was like a brick wall behind me and I couldn't have asked them to do any better."

The no-hitter marks the second in the career for McCarthy, as she notched her first no-no last season in an 8-0 Longwood victory over Campbell at Lancer Field on April 12, 2014. In that game, McCarthy only allowed two base runners, issuing a pair of walks.

"It's pretty special for anybody to get a no-hitter, but I'm proud of her and the way she performed," said Longwood head coach Kathy Riley.

The performance was the seventh straight game that Riley has called upon McCarthy to start in the absence of senior Libby Morris – who has been sidelined with a minor injury. McCarthy has responded well in the seven starts, posting a 5-2 mark and has given up two runs or less in six of the seven starts.

"With Libby's injury, Coach Riley told me that I'd probably be getting the ball a lot, so I just tried to prepare for that mentally," McCarthy said. "Coach Riley and our trainers have been doing a great job of helping me take care of my body."

After allowing two runs in the first inning of the opening game of the series against the Flames, McCarthy was dominant as she held the Liberty offense scoreless the rest of the way. Throughout the three games, the Dunnsville, Va., native allowed just two runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out 18 batters in 15 innings pitched. McCarthy lowered her ERA to 3.42 on the season after coming into the series with an ERA of 3.80.

"Biz just really had great location throughout this entire series," said head coach Kathy Riley. "She just had the first inning in the first game of the series where she wasn't really on point and she worked her way into it by the third inning of that game. Ever since that point, she has been really accurate and she is really difficult for anybody to hit when she's throwing strikes."

The Lancers won their fourth straight Big South series of the season and posted their first sweep of the campaign. It marks the third straight series the Lancers have taken over the Flames since joining the Big South in 2013, as Longwood holds an 8-2 over Liberty since joining the league.

"I'm just happy with the all-around good softball that we played in this series," Riley said. "We came to play in each game of this series. We were scrappy throughout and someone different came up big for us in each game."

The Longwood bats also picked up where they left off Tuesday, spraying eight hits including three hits for extra bases. The offensive attack was led by freshmen Kelsey Sweeney and Krista Kelly, who combined to go 5-for-5 with four RBI and four runs scored.

Sweeney was a triple away from hitting for the cycle, as she launched her second home run in four games and later provided a two-RBI double to right center field. Meanwhile, Kelly just missed her first collegiate home run, but ended up with her second collegiate extra base hit with a standing double in the fourth inning.

Much like the second game of the series on Tuesday, Longwood used a big second inning to jump out to an early advantage. The Lancers benefitted from three hits and a pair of walks to take a 4-0 lead. After a leadoff single from Sweeney and a pair of walks issued to Chelsea Sciacca and Glenn Walters, Kelly came up with a timely single back up the middle to bring home her fellow freshman Sweeney.

"It was really cool for us as freshmen to help the team get the job done," Sweeney said. "We get to work side-by-side for the next four years together and get to help each other get better each day."

Katie Shinrock notched her third consecutive game with a RBI with a groundout to third base that brought home Sciacca, before Casey Lifsey notched her first hit of the series with an RBI single to right center to bring home Walters.

Longwood added to its lead an inning later after Sweeney took a 1-0 offering from Liberty starter Kenzie Friesen to straight away center for her second career round-tripper. Later in the inning, Kelly notched her second hit of the day off a double, but she ultimately was stranded at second base.
Friesen (4-8) took the loss, giving up seven runs on eight hits and two walks in 3.2 innings pitched.

However, the story of this day was the performance of McCarthy. After hitting the third batter of the game, the sophomore cruised in the process of recording 10 consecutive outs and not having the ball leave the infield the entire game. McCarthy retired the Flames in three-up, three-down fashion in the second, third and fourth innings.

With McCarthy dealing, the Lancer offense looked to put the game out of reach and that's what they did. After Liberty opened the fourth inning with two straight outs, Emily Murphy and Megan Baltzell were able to reach base with a single and hit-by-pitch. That brought up Sweeney and she came through with a two-RBI double to right center to extend the advantage to 7-0.

"I just went up there and tried to be aggressive at the plate," Sweeney said. "I saw the ball really well and it felt good to help my team get the job done. It feels really good for us to get a sweep."

Longwood continued to put on the pressure in the fifth inning, as Walters and Kelly were each able to score off a pair of RBI groundouts from Shinrock and Lifsey.

With the 9-0 lead, McCarthy came back to the circle to work the bottom of the fifth. She allowed her second Liberty base runner of the day, as she hit Mickey Loveridge with a 1-0 pitch to lead off the inning, before issuing a two-out walk to put runners on first and second. However, this day belonged to McCarthy and she struck out Katie Han swinging on a 1-2 offering to end the game and complete her second career no-hitter.

Up next, Longwood will have a short turnaround playing its third Big South series of the week at Campbell. The Lancers and Camels will open the series with a twin bill Friday, April 3 beginning at 4 p.m. from Amanda Littlejohn Stadium.

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