RADFORD, Va. – A three-hit shutout on national TV from Sydney Gay in game one and a sixth inning grand slam from Justina Augustine in game two led the Longwood softball team to a doubleheader sweep over Radford Saturday afternoon at Radford Softball Park.

Gay allowed five base runners in a three-hit shutout in game one featured across the country on ESPNU en route to a 5-0 Longwood win, before Augustine broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning of game two with a grand slam – one of two blasts on the day for the senior – to lead the Lancers to a 5-1 victory.

"We've had wonderful pitching the last two weeks and that's been a catalyst for us down the stretch," said Longwood head coach Kathy Riley. "We've also had several people step up at different moments with Jordan Clark's two home runs the other day and Justina hitting a pair this afternoon. Overall, I'm happy with where we're at heading into the tournament."

The win in the first game for the Lancers (24-26, 13-8 Big South) clinches the No. 3 seed in the Big South Tournament for a Longwood squad that ends the regular season as the league's hottest team with wins in eight of its final nine games. Meanwhile, Radford (25-25, 6-12 Big South) drops its fourth straight and eighth in a row at home.

"This entire weekend was a team effort coming off the Liberty series playing better softball," Riley said. "We did a good job of playing together and we were very focused on making sure we came out on top of every game."

The Longwood pitching combination of Gay, Elizabeth McCarthy and Sydney Mundell was superb throughout the weekend, not allowing a Radford base runner to advance past second base until the fourth inning of game three. Together, the dynamic pair of Gay and McCarthy, limited the Highlanders to one run on five hits in a combined 19.0 innings.

"We tried to keep them off balance by mixing up our pitches and throwing both in and out," Gay said. "We were both able to do that effectively with quite a few swing and misses."

McCarthy, the two-time Big South Pitcher of the Year, moved one strikeout shy of joining former Coastal Carolina pitcher Ashley Bagwell for seventh-place all-time in the Big South's record book in career strikeouts. In addition, McCarthy finished the weekend 10^th all-time in career wins in the Big South with 72 and is one shy of tying former Lancer great Jen Steele in the Longwood record book.

After coming into Saturday's doubleheader without a home run this season, Augustine hit a pair of home runs throughout the two games and finished with a team-high five RBI, all part of an afternoon that saw the senior shortstop rip a team-high four hits throughout.

"It's awesome to come here and get a sweep," Augustine said. "It's nice that we're all starting to click at the right time heading into the conference tournament."

Five Lancers collected a pair of hits throughout the day, including Kaylynn Batten, Kasey Carr, Jordan Clark, Glenn Walters and Krista Kelly.

With the completion of the regular season, Longwood will have 10 days to await the start of the Big South Tournament, hosted by the Lancers at Lancer Field May 10-13.

Longwood 5, Radford 0

Playing on the national stage in a televised game on ESPNU, sophomore right-hander Sydney Gay came up with a big-game performance with a three-hit shutout to lead Longwood to a convincing 5-0 win over Radford in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at Radford Softball Park.

A night after Elizabeth McCarthy took a perfect game into the seventh inning in a one-hit shutout, Gay retired the first eight batters she faced before a Brooke Trapuzzano single to right field broke it up with two out in the third inning.  

"Sydney dominated the first game," Riley said. "She did a nice job of keeping them off balance. I never felt in that game where she wasn't in control of what was going on."

Gay (13-13) allowed just five base runners throughout the game, giving up three hits and a pair of walks. She didn't allow a Radford base runner to advance past second, as the Lancers have limited the Highlanders to three runners in scoring position through two games in the series.

The start for Gay comes on the heels of her dominant four-hit shutout in the final game of Longwood's series against Liberty Wednesday. Rounding into the form that saw the Carrollton, Va., product claim 2016 Big South Tournament MVP honors, Gay has limited opponents to three earned runs in her last 34 innings of work.

"I was able to rely on my defense quite a bit and then after we got the run I felt even more confident out there," Gay said.

Abby Morrow (18-13) took the loss for the Highlanders, going two innings and giving up one run on four hits. The Radford ace faced 11 batters before giving way to Kayla Huffman. The sophomore righty gave up four runs on five hits in five innings of work.

Seven different Lancers notched a hit in the game, led by a pair of hits by Justina Augustine and Kaylynn Batten.

Augustine was able to get Longwood on the board with her first home run of the season on a blast that hit off the top of the wall in left field.

"I was happy to be able to help my team to a win," Augustine said. "I went up there looking for a good pitch to hit and tried to put a good swing on it."

Longwood added to its lead in the fifth inning after Destiny Martinez led off the inning with a walk and was brought home four batters later on an RBI single down the left field line from Jordan Clark. The Lancers had an opportunity to add further to its lead, but left the bases loaded.

A clutch one-out single from Glenn Walters single through the right side brought home Karleigh Donovan from second base to add to the Longwood to extend the Longwood lead to 3-0. Two batters later, Haleigh Kilby came up with a clutch two-out, two RBI single down the left field line to bring home Clark and Walters to extend the Longwood lead further.

Longwood 5, Radford 2

A grand slam for Justina Augustine in the sixth inning backed a …, as Longwood completed the series sweep in the second game of the afternoon.

Coming off a one-hit shutout in Friday's series-opener, senior southpaw Elizabeth McCarthy took a no-hit bid into the fourth inning, before Lindsey Toneygay broke it up with an RBI single to tie the game at 1-1.

McCarthy (11-8) got the win with a superb five innings of work, giving up one run on one hit. McCarthy added three strikeouts to finish the regular season one strikeout shy of matching former Coastal Carolina pitcher Ashley Bagwell for seventh-place all-time on the Big South's career strikeout list.

"Every coach wants to have a senior really step up and she's done that for us over the last couple weeks," Riley said. "She's an inspiration to us because we get to follow her lead in terms of wanting to have quality results at the end of the year."  

In addition, McCarthy enters her final conference tournament in 10th-place all-time on the Big South's career wins list backed by two wins on the weekend.
Sydney Mundell pitched the final two innings of game two in relief, giving up one run on three hits.

For the second game in a row, Longwood rattled off nine hits with seven different players collecting a hit with Augustine leading the way with a pair.

Abby Morrow (18-14) took the loss, giving up five runs on eight hits and a pair of walks. Kayla Huffman came on to toss the final inning, giving up a hit.

Longwood scored the game's first run in the third inning, as Glenn Walters dumped a two-out single into right field to score Kaylynn Batten. The Lancers had an opportunity to tack on more runs, but left the bases loaded to end the inning.

Radford answered with a run in the fourth inning to snap a streak of 27 consecutive innings without a hit. Lindsey Toneygay's RBI single back up the middle broke up a no-hit bid for McCarthy and brought home Hunter Mundy who led off the inning with a walk.

Augustine provided the Lancers with all the run support the squad needed with a sixth inning grand slam, her second home run of the day. The no-doubter came after three straight singles off the bats of Krista Kelly, Kasey Carr and Jessica Smith and Leanna Toler came on as a pinch hitter. Augustine went deep following on the sixth pitch of her at-bat.

"I thought she'd throw me a drop ball and that's what I got," Augustine said. "I knew I made good contact with it coming off the bat."

Radford got a run back in the seventh inning after Toneygay doubled to right center and was brought home on a two-out RBI single from Callie Morgan.

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