WILMINGTON, N.C. – Led by a trio of three-hit days from Leah Powell, Jordan Clark and Kaylynn Batten along with a strong day in the circle for junior ace Sydney Gay, the Longwood softball team picked up a doubleheader split Saturday afternoon at Bozeman Field in the 2018 Seahawk Softball Classic.

Powell and Clark delivered two hits apiece in Longwood's 4-2 loss to host UNCW before Batten turned in a two-hit performance and Gay tossed a complete-game shutout to help the Lancers to a 3-0 win over Bucknell.

Coming off a four-hit day Friday, Clark picked up where she left off with her third straight multi-hit performance. Longwood's No. 2 hitter in the batting order, Clark is has had seven hits in four games in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Powell had a three-hit day to raise her batting average to .310 in her first nine college games, as she has had multiple hits in three of Longwood's nine games.

In addition to her catching duties of handling Gay and the Longwood pitching staff, Batten continued her hot start to the 2018 season, collecting three more hits and her ninth RBI of the season. The Kenly, N.C. product has had hits in seven of Longwood's nine games and has two or more hits in two of those games.

In the circle, Gay (3-1) saw the bulk of the workload, as the junior gave up four runs, three earned in 13.0 innings while receiving the starting nod in both games. With the pair of performances, which included a complete-game shutout of Bucknell, Gay lowered her ERA to 1.95 on the season.

"Our sight is set on a strong finish against Maine who has also played well this weekend," said Longwood head coach Kathy Riley.

Longwood looks to close out the 2018 Seahawk Softball Classic with its third win of the tournament, as the Lancers play Maine Sunday, Feb.24. First pitch is set for 9 a.m.

UNCW 4, Longwood 2

Longwood's pitching combination of Sydney Gay, Sydney Backstrom and Sydney Mundell allowed UNCW two hits, but the host Seahawks took advantage of a four-run fourth inning to earn a 4-2 win in Longwood's first game of the day.

Lacey Fox and Emily Langkamp produced the Seahawk hits on the day, both coming in a fourth inning where UNCW batted around and took advantage of a Longwood error.

That inning backed a complete game performance in the circle from Haley Lenderman (1-1) to earn the win. She allowed two runs on nine Longwood hits and a walk while striking out five on 105 pitches, 66 for strikes.

"We played better today although we hurt ourselves by not driving in runs when we had opportunities," Riley said. "Our job is to keep pushing the envelope until we grow into a strong team."

Leah Powell and Jordan Clark each had a two-hit game for a Lancer squad that produced nine hits as a group, as Clark extended her streak of multi-hit games to three straight. Meanwhile, Powell had her third multi-hit game while hitting lead off.

Gay (2-1) took the loss, giving up four runs, three earned, on two hits and four walks while striking out four batters. She threw 92 pitches, 52 for strikes.

Gay was relieved to start the fifth inning by Sydney Backstrom, who worked around a walk in the inning. Mundell came out of the bullpen to pitch a perfect sixth inning on eight pitches, six strikes.

Longwood 3, Bucknell 0

A five-hit, complete-game shutout from Sydney Gay led Longwood to a 3-0 win over Bucknell in the second game of the day.

Gay allowed just six baserunners throughout the day, as the junior righty tossed her 11th career shutout, as Gay moved to fourth on Longwood's all-time strikeout list.

"We had a challenging battle today with Bucknell," Riley said. "They played very hard and we matched everything they threw at us."

Gay (3-1) worked two, three-up, three-down innings, as she allowed just one extra base hit in 7.0 innings while adding four strikeouts.

"We had an outstanding pitching and catching performance by Syd [Sydney Gay] and Bug [Kaylynn Batten]," Riley said. "It was definitely a team effort and something we can all share in."

The Longwood bats gave Gay all the help she needed, as Kaylynn Batten and Jenna Dunn – who had her first two extra-base hits -- each finished 2-for-3 in the game. Batten added an RBI on her first inning double to right center field to score Leah Powell, before Destiny Martinez collected an RBI an inning later.

Glenn Walters brought home Dunn following the freshman's first career triple with an RBI groundout.

Longwood overcame a 2-for-3 day from Taylor Wolfgang and a 1-for-2 performance from Halie Mariano, who also had a walk to reach in two of her three plate appearances.

Raeanne Geffert (1-2) took the hard-luck loss, throwing 5.2 innings and giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk. She added seven strikeouts.

Sarah Magro got the final out of the sixth inning for Bucknell (3-6) after allowing a walk.

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