BLACKSBURG, Va. – A pair of two-run home runs from Aysha Richardson and Lauren Duff in a four-run first inning led Virginia Tech past the Longwood softball team 5-2 Tuesday night at Tech Softball Park.

The win for the Hokies (16-24) snaps a three-game losing skid to the Lancers, dating back to the 2015 NCAA Knoxville Regional. The loss for the Lancers (15-21) snaps their three-game winning streak it had coming into the game.

Virginia Tech came out swinging with a pair of home runs for a Hokie team that came into the day ranked seventh in the NCAA with 44 home runs on the season, as Aysha Richardson and Lauren Duff each went deep to give the Hokies a 4-0 lead.

"We just played an average game today where we did some things well and some other things we didn't do like we needed," said Longwood head coach Kathy Riley. "Obviously, we dug ourselves a hole, but I thought we did a nice job of staying within ourselves and competing even after we were down."

With one of two Hokie home runs Richardson paced a Virginia Tech offense that had five hits off Longwood pitching.

Carrie Eberle (7-6) went the distance in the circle, allowing two runs on six hits and a pair of walks. In addition, Eberle also struck out a pair, while throwing 120 pitches, 72 for strikes.

Six different Lancers had hits in the game, as Justina Augustine and Jordan Clark extended their hitting streaks to a team-best eight games. Clark was the lone Lancer to reach base multiple times, as she had a double and walk.

Sydney Gay (10-11) got the start in the circle and went four innings, giving up four runs on three hits and three walks while striking out three. After giving up three hits in the opening inning, Gay settled down and didn't allow a hit for her final three innings. Sydney Mundell came on and tossed two innings, giving up an unearned run on a pair of hits.

With Virginia Tech holding a 4-0 lead, Longwood was able to get a run back in the third inning with a Walters RBI single that scored Jessica Smith, before a Karleigh Donovan RBI single scored Jordan Clark from second base three innings later to draw the Lancers within a pair of runs.

The Hokies stretched the margin to three runs in the bottom of the sixth, taking advantage of a pair of Longwood errors with two out. Caroline Schoenewald singled to bring home Ashley Kowalski from second.

"I think we're on our way to becoming a good team, but we just aren't all the way there yet," Riley said.

Longwood will have an opportunity to bounce back and extend its home winning streak to eight games, as the Lancers return to Lancer Field for a three-game series against Presbyterian. That series is set to begin Friday night at 5 p.m., with a doubleheader set for Saturday.

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