Photo Gallery (Facebook)

FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood head softball coach Kathy Riley captured her 600th victory at Longwood, as the Lancers picked up a doubleheader sweep over Virginia Tech Wednesday evening at Lancer Field.

In a rematch of Longwood's first-ever NCAA Tournament win in the 2015 Knoxville Regional, the Lancers received a strong effort in the circle in game one from freshman Sydney Gay in a 4-1 victory, before recording 10 hits to support a strong showing from junior southpaw Elizabeth McCarthy in a 7-4 game two win.

In her 19th season as the head coach of the Lancers, Riley owns 601 career victories at Longwood after the pair of wins. In her 19 seasons at Longwood, she has never posted a record below the .500 mark while winning 30-plus games in 11 of her 18 previous seasons to go along with a pair of 40-win campaigns.

"Honestly, getting the win over Virginia Tech means more to me than No. 600, because these kids work extremely hard," Riley said. "I thought we played three good games this past weekend at Auburn. For them to come out on the positive side and pick up a couple of wins against a good Virginia Tech club was very important to our team."

Including her four seasons at Mount Olive prior to her arrival at Longwood, a Riley-coached team has not finished below the .500 mark since her first two seasons with the Trojans. The coach sits just 21 victories shy of collecting her 700th coaching victory in 23 total seasons.

"I'm glad we could all win for each other and get Coach her 600th win," Gay said after picking up the win in Riley's 600th victory at Longwood. "We play for one another every game and all work hard as a team. Every win feels great and knowing that this is Coach's 600th win makes it even more of a celebration."

In addition, Riley has guided the Lancers to unparalleled success since joining the Division I ranks in 2008. In those seven seasons, Longwood has captured the 2013 and 2015 Big South Championships, as well as the school's first Big South Regular Season Championship last season. The 2015 Big South Coach of the Year, Riley guided the Lancers to the school's first NCAA Tournament victory last season against Virginia Tech in the Knoxville Regional.

"It's awesome that Coach has gotten to 600 wins here at Longwood," said senior shortstop Emily Murphy. "She's a great coach and the accomplishment of winning 600 games at one school certainly proves it."

Murphy led the Lancers at the plate by going 4-for-7 on the day with three RBI and a pair of runs scored. Murphy recorded three of her hits in the first game, going 3-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored. In addition, Murphy extended her reached base streak to eight consecutive games.

Gay allowed just one run on four hits in the opening game of the day to get the win in Riley's 600th win at Longwood. After coming into Wednesday 10th in the NCAA among freshman pitchers with a 1.90 ERA, Gay saw her ERA drop to 1.83, as she has allowed more than one run just once in her past eight appearances with that coming at No. 2 Auburn.

In game two, McCarthy gave up four runs, two earned on six hits and a pair of walks to go along with three strikeouts.

"I thought both of our pitchers did a real nice job of spotting the ball," Riley said. "When they got behind in the count, they were excellent at coming back the at-bat, getting themselves back in a position to get the batter to hit."

After a five-game break from Big South play, the first-place Lancers return to conference action with a three –game series at Gardner-Webb. That series is set to begin Saturday, April 16 with a doubleheader set to get underway at 1 p.m.

Longwood 4, Virginia Tech 1
Murphy went 3-for-3 at the plate with a pair of doubles, three RBI and a run scored, as Riley picked up her 600th career victory at Longwood in the squad's 4-1 victory over Virginia Tech.

Murphy was a catalyst for the Lancers at the plate, notching her second three-hit game of the season. In addition, it marked the second game within the last week in which the senior from Virginia Beach, Va., product has posted three RBI, coming on the heels of her three-run walk-off home run against Liberty last week.

"Today felt good," Murphy said. "We were all ready to play Virginia Tech and to come out on top feels good. I got up to bat each time and just wanted to hit the ball and produce for my team in a positive manner."

Longwood's three seniors – Jamie Barbour, Carly Adams and Murphy – combined for five of Longwood's eight hits in the game and three of the team's four runs scored.

"If you look at the past couple of weeks, our older players are starting to play well for us," Riley said. "That's the way we would like it, so that it takes some of the pressure off the younger players."

Gay (10-5) was strong in the circle once again, as she hasn't given up more than two earned runs in her last eight appearances. After allowing Virginia Tech's leadoff batter, Breanna Davenport, to single to right field to start the game, the Longwood rookie went the next seven batters without allowing a hit.

Maggie Tyler (16-12) took the loss for the Hokies, giving up four runs on eight hits and a walk while notching 11 strikeouts.

Virginia Tech opened the scoring after loading the bases with no out in the third inning. However, all the Hokies could manage to push across was a run on a sacrifice fly from Katey Smith to score Caroline Schoenewald.

Longwood answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. After back-to-back singles from Justina Augustine and Jamie Barbour, Murphy ripped a 2-1 pitch down the left field line for a double to drive in Augustine and Barbour.

Murphy came home to score one batter later after Kaylynn Batten singled back up the middle.

Following the third inning, Gay settled in nicely and got 12 of the final 13 batters she faced out over the final four innings. The rookie gave up just one run on four hits and a pair of walks while striking out three batters.

Murphy tacked on a run for the Lancers in the fifth inning with her second double of the game to drive in Adams and increase the Longwood lead.

Longwood 7, Virginia Tech 4
Karleigh Donovan, Augustine and Adams each notched a multi-hit game, as Longwood captured a 7-4 victory in the nightcap to complete the sweep over Virginia Tech.

McCarthy (12-8)  got the win, as the junior southpaw allowed four runs, two earned, on six hits and two walks while striking out six. The Dunnsville, Va., product picked up the 54th win of her career, needing just six wins shy of becoming the sixth player in a Longwood uniform to post 60 career wins.

Chelsea Whitcomb (2-4) took the loss, tossing 0.2 innings and giving up two runs on one hit and three walks.

Donovan notched her fifth two-hit game of the season to go along with a pair of RBI, while Augustine posted her first two-hit game of the season with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate with a pair of runs scored.  

Longwood opened the scoring in the first inning with a pair of runs on a Donovan two-RBI single to score Batten and Barbour.

Virginia Tech cut that lead in half in the top half of the second inning after Emma Strouth doubled to left field to bring home Jessie Mehr before being thrown out at third base by Krista Kelly.

Augustine made it a two-run lead once more after getting caught in a run-down between third and home before an error from Caitlyn Nolan allowed her to score. That would mark one of two rundowns Augustine got in with the second one resulting in a stolen base on the play in the fourth inning.

Augustine's run in the fourth was part of a three-run inning from the Lancers. Three straight singles back up the middle from Adams, Murphy and Batten allowed Adams to score, before Murphy came home on a double down the right field line from Glenn Walters.

Kelsey Sweeney belted her third home run of the season one inning later on a 1-0 pitch, before the Hokies added a pair of runs in the sixth inning.

#GoWood