TROY, Ala. – A pair of losses in games that came down to the wire highlighted the opening day of the Trojan Classic, as the Longwood softball team was defeated by Samford and host Troy Friday on day one of the tournament.

Samford (2-5), the reigning Southern Conference champion, scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning en route to an 8-5 win in game one of the day, before Troy (5-2) scored a pair in the fifth inning before holding off a late Longwood (0-6) rally to earn a 5-4 win in the nightcap.

A combined 4-for-7 (.571) from freshman Destiny Martinez paced the Lancers at the plate, as Martinez extended her hit streak to five games. Junior Kelsey Sweeney also had a multi-hit day, going 3-for-7 (429) with an RBI.

With a pair of walks against Troy, Glenn Walters moves two shy of entering into the top-six in program history in career walks.

Sydney Gay led the Lancers pitchers throughout, tossing six innings against Troy and giving up five runs, four earned, on four hits. Gay added six strikeouts in the game, giving the sophomore 13 on the young season.

Longwood returns to the field Saturday, Feb. 18 with a doubleheader against Jacksonville and Troy. Set for an 11 a.m. ET., first pitch, the game against the Dolphins will pit head coach Kathy Riley's squad against former Lancer pitcher and assistant coach Jen Steele's Dolphins. Longwood then returns to action at 4 p.m., ET., against Troy.

Samford 8, Longwood 5
Samford catcher Hannah Trombley recorded the go-ahead RBI single in the sixth inning to propel the Bulldogs to an 8-5 win over Longwood.

Trombley was one of seven Bulldogs to record a hit in the game, as the Samford offense notched 13 hits throughout the afternoon with four different players recording multi-hit games. Shelby Maze led the Bulldogs at the plate, going 4-for-4 with two runs scored. Abby Sweeney and Kelsey Royalty combined for six of Samford's eight RBI in the game, each finishing with three RBI.

The Bulldogs offensive outburst supported the complete-game effort of Grey Adams (1-1), who gave up five runs, all earned, on six hits while walking four batters and striking out five. Adams gave up four runs on three hits in the first inning and settled in from there, giving up just two runs on three hits the remainder of the game.

"I'm not happy with how we're playing, as I'm sure the players feel the same way," Riley said. "We can control effort, competitive spirit, desire to be a great team and our approach during the game. That's where we'll start and I'm expecting things to change sooner than later."

After coming on in relief of Longwood starting pitcher Elizabeth McCarthy in the fourth inning, Jenna Carnes (0-1) took the loss going 4.0 innings and allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits and a pair of walks. Carnes also struck out a pair of batters.

McCarthy, making her second start of the season, gave up three of her four runs in the first inning and allowed four runs on seven hits while walking a pair of batters.

Offensively, the Lancers finished with a season-high five runs on six hits, stranding just three baserunners throughout. Six different Lancers recorded hits, led by the first home run of the season for sophomore Jessica Smith. Kaylynn Batten also extended her reached base streak to 22 straight games, dating back to the 2016 season.

Troy 5, Longwood 4
A three-run third and two more runs added in the fifth innings, before holding off a Longwood seventh inning rally lifted Troy to a 5-4 win over Longwood in the nightcap of the day.

Longwood had baserunners in every inning of the game, but stranded 12 on the base paths throughout.

"The girls played very hard this evening," Riley said. "Unfortunately, like a lot of games, it comes down to performing consistently and in clutch situations which we didn't do this evening. We have to take the road less traveled if we want to have a high-achieving team."

Troy's two and three hitters in the lineup – Stephanie Snyder and Katie Webb – combined for three of Troy's four hits in the game, helping the Trojans (5-2) to the win column despite committing five errors.

Claire Graves (2-0) earned the win, tossing 6.2 innings and giving up three runs, two earned, on six hits while striking out two and walking three. She was relieved by Peyton Glover to start the fourth inning, before coming back in five batters later with one out in the inning and the bases loaded.

Sydney Gay (0-3) took the loss, giving up five runs, four earned, on four hits and four walks. Gay also struck out a season-high six batters in the game.

A pair of three-hit games from Destiny Martinez and Kelsey Sweeney led the way for the Lancers offensively. The three-hit game for Sweeney matches a career-high for the junior, while Martinez has hits in five of six games to open her career.

After Troy took a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning, Longwood looked to come-from-behind and loaded the bases with no out in the inning. The Lancers pushed one run across after an error on Troy shortstop Becca Hartley allowed Kasey Carr to reach safely and Kaylynn Batten to score. However, the Lancers were unable to advance the game-tying run 60 feet.

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