CLINTON, S.C. – Led by a dominant pitching performance from Elizabeth McCarthy and a 3-for-3 day from seniors Carly Adams and Jamie Barbour, the Longwood softball team picked up an 8-2 victory over Presbyterian to complete a three-game series sweep Sunday afternoon at PC Softball Stadium.

The Lancers (29-15, 15-3 BSC) move to just one win from capturing their fourth straight season with 30 wins, winning their eighth conference game in a row to remain two games ahead of Coastal Carolina in the Big South standings. Meanwhile, Presbyterian (22-25, 8-13 BSC) has dropped six of its last seven contests.

"I'm proud of our progression throughout the weekend," said head coach Kathy Riley. "We started with a 2-1 game yesterday with good pitching and defense. We progressed in the second game of the doubleheader and were better at the plate. Today, I was real proud of our kids for going up there and attacking the ball."

McCarthy (16-8) picked up her fifth straight win, giving the Lancers another quality start by giving up a pair of unearned runs and a pair of hits while walking one batter and striking out five. She threw 91 pitches, 65 for strikes and faced 22 batters in six innings.

For the weekend, McCarthy allowed just one earned run on four hits and struck out 14 batters in 13.0 innings while lowering her ERA to 2.15 for the season. McCarthy continues her strong stretch, giving up just four earned runs in her last five starts.

"Our pitching staff has been the strength of our team all season," Riley said. "Biz has had a real good season and is pitching even better than last year. We're also fortunate to have Sydney [Gay] come in as well and pitch as well as she has this season to give us a nice one-two punch."

Jenna Carnes made her first appearance of the weekend, as she came on in the seventh to complete the game for the Lancers, allowing just one walk.

The Longwood staff combined for 24 strikeouts and gave up just nine hits throughout the three-game series, as Presbyterian batters hit just .129 off the Longwood pitching staff throughout the weekend.

The Lancers, who moved to 12-0 for the season when having at least 10 hits, received a pair of three-hit games from Adams and Barbour. Adams went 3-for-3 at the plate with a pair of RBI and runs scored, while Barbour had an RBI and scored a pair of runs and Emily Murphy was 1-for-3 with an RBI and run scored.

The three Longwood seniors led an offensive effort that saw six of the nine players in blue and white record a hit.

Katie Brown (10-12) took the loss, tossing 3.2 innings and giving up three runs on five hits. Sydney Siegler also appeared for three innings, giving up five runs on seven hits.

The Lancers opened the scoring with a run in the first, second and third inning. Murphy recorded a sacrifice fly in the first inning, while Karleigh Donovan hit her fourth home run of the season in the second. Kaylynn Batten ripped an RBI single through the left side to score Adams in the third inning and give the Lancers a three-run cushion.

Longwood tacked on three runs in the fourth inning. Barbour singled on a ball just out of the reach of PC third baseman Kersten Legacki with two on and two out to score Kelsey Sweeney from second base. Adams followed with a double to left center that bounced against the wall and scored both Justina Augustine and Barbour.

Presbyterian scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning on a throwing error from Murphy that allowed Jonnie Petree and Erin Ruff to score from first and second.

Longwood scored the final two runs of the contest, as Natasha Sherrod came on in the seventh after back-to-back singles from Adams and Murphy given up by Siegler. Sherrod walked three of the four batters she faced to walk in Adams and Murphy.

Longwood steps out of conference for the final time this season, as the Lancers travel to Harrisonburg, Va., for a midweek doubleheader against James Madison. The Dukes mark the fourth top-10 team on Longwood's schedule this season and the third top-10 team the squad will face. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.

#GoWood