CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Sydney Gay's complete-game effort and a 3-for-3 day at the plate from senior Kelsey Sweeney led the Longwood softball team to a 4-1 win over ACC foe Virginia Wednesday night at The Park.

Gay allowed one run on five hits and was backed by a Lancer offense that improved to 12-0 when recording 10 hits or more.

"Well, I was happy to get a win. It's a tough week for us with a short turnaround after playing last night at North Carolina," said Longwood head coach Kathy Riley. "I was happy in terms of working hard to get momentum. It wasn't an easy day for the players but I saw our kids work all the way through the game to keep up our energy and were interested in playing their best game."

Gay's (17-8) gem helped her pick up the win while starting her third consecutive game. The junior ace had her ninth complete-game performance of the season, allowing one run on five hits and three walks while striking out seven batters on 99 pitches, 61 for strikes.

"Every time that Sydney has gone out this year she has done a good job for us," Riley said.

The right-handed junior didn't allow multiple baserunners to reach until the sixth inning, as she won for the fifth time in her last eight starts. On the season, Gay has only yielded three or more runs to opponents on four occasions while eclipsing five strikeouts 11 times.

"I wanted to keep them off balance and throw it off the plate," Gay said. "They're an aggressive team, so I wanted to get ahead in the count and get them to chase a ball off the plate."

Sweeney had her first multi-hit game of the season, going 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI. Sweeney had three of Longwood's eight hits in the game, as Karleigh Donovan extended her hitting streak to six games with a 2-for-3 outing with a pair of runs scored. In addition, Krista Kelly added a pair of hits and an RBI while Destiny Martinez, Kaylynn Batten and Jenna Dunn also added hits.

"I'm happy for Kelsey," Riley said. "She's been out for a year and has been itching to get back into the lineup and before tonight we put her in some pinch hitting roles and she stroked it really well. It's great to see her continue that."

After being sidelined with injury, Sweeney picked up her second start of the season and collected her fifth hit in her last four games with an at-bat. Sweeney's second inning RBI single into center field and fourth inning RBI single proved to be the difference of the game.

"I just tried to be really aggressive on my pitch and that helped me tonight," Sweeney said. "I was stepping in there, sitting back and really seeing the ball well out of her hand."

Virginia's Erika Osherow (6-13) got the start for the Cavaliers and took the loss, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out four Lancers in 3.2 innings. Lacy Smith came out of the Virginia bullpen to pitch the final 3.1 frames, allowing one run on four hits and three walks.

Longwood returns to Big South play over the weekend traveling to Presbyterian for a three-game series. That series has been pushed up to a single game Friday, April 13 beginning at 4:30 p.m. and a doubleheader Saturday, April 14 at 1 p.m.

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