CLINTON, S.C. – Junior catcher Kaylynn Batten had a pair of multi-hit games and a combined seven RBI to lead the Longwood softball team to a doubleheader sweep Saturday afternoon over Presbyterian at the PC Softball Complex.

Batten went a combined a combined 4-for-7 and was a double away from the cycle throughout the two games. She had four RBI in the first game of the day to lead Longwood to a 7-2 win before going 2-for-4 in the final game of the series to help Longwood complete the three-game sweep with a 13-0 run-rule win in the series finale.

"It's always a challenge to go on the road and win three games," said Longwood head coach Kathy Riley. "It was nice to see us build throughout the week and weekend. I thought that our last game today was the best game that we played in terms of relaxing and not pressing so much."

Coming off a Big South Player of the Week accolade Monday, Batten backed that week by collecting hits in four of Longwood's games including a multi-hit performance in each of Longwood's three victories throughout the weekend.

Against Presbyterian, Batten extended her reached base streak to 20 games and hit .700 (7-for-10) throughout the weekend with nine RBI and five runs scored. Three of her seven hits went for extra bases, as she slugged 1.300 and finished with a .667 on-base percentage.

"A lot of times we'll forget just how strong of an athlete Bug really is," Riley said. "She has tremendous hand-eye coordination but other than that she's strong and quick with her feet. She's really given us a consistent performance all season."

With the wins, Longwood (28-13, 12-3 Big South) is in first-place in the Big South standings after taking two-of-three from Liberty a week ago to claim the tiebreaker over the Flames.

In the circle, Sydney Gay (19-8) and Sydney Backstrom (9-5) each collected wins while Longwood's pitching limited the Blue Hose lineup to two runs throughout the day.

Longwood will have six days to prepare for its final home Big South series of the season, welcoming Winthrop to Lancer Field. The first game of the series is set for Friday, April 20 at 5 p.m. Longwood's five seniors – Haleigh Kilby, Krista Kelly, Sydney Mundell, Kelsey Sweeney and Glenn Walters will be honored prior to Saturday's doubleheader at 1 p.m.

Longwood 7, Presbyterian 2

Behind Kaylynn Batten's 2-for-4 performance with four RBI, Longwood secured its fifth straight Big South series win with a 7-2 victory in the opening game of the day.

Seven different Lancers finished with hits in the game with Batten leading the Lancer offense with her four RBI and her sixth home run of the season. Karleigh Donovan went 3-for-4 for her second straight three-hit game to collect her 10th multi-hit game of the season, adding an RBI. Krista Kelly also was 2-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored.

Sydney Backstrom (9-5) picked up the win in the circle after going five innings and giving up two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out a pair of batters.Sydney Mundell
came out of the bullpen to start the sixth inning and pitched two perfect innings, retiring all six batters she faced.

Over her last six appearances, Backstrom has earned three wins and picked up a pair of saves. The Huntersville, N.C. product has limited opponents to a .224 batting average over that stretch and has yielded just four extra base hits.

 Kaylee Allen (1-16) took the loss, giving up seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits in six innings.

Longwood 13, Presbyterian 0 (6)

An eight run sixth inning in which Longwood sent 13 batters to the plate led the Lancers to their third run-rule victory of the season in a 13-0 win in six innings.

That eight-run inning backed a combined shutout from Longwood pitchers Sydney Gay and Arleigh Wood.

Gay (19-8) picked up the win and moved to within one victory of claiming the second 20-win season in her career to within seven wins of Libby Morris for fifth all-time in program history in career wins.

Gay gave up five hits in five scoreless innings to earn the win, allowing just six Presbyterian baserunners and throwing 61 pitches, 45 for strikes. Arleigh Wood came on to complete the shutout in the sixth inning, allowing a hit and a walk while throwing 15 pitches, seven for strikes.

"I felt good in today's game," Gay said. "After I didn't have my best outing yesterday, I came out today and was able to hit my spots a little better and I just tried to keep them off balance."

Destiny Martinez, Kaylynn Batten and Jenna Dunn all collected two-hit games with Batten driving in three runs and Dunn bringing home a pair to pace the Longwood offense.  

A 2-for-4 performance from Martinez extended her hitting streak to four games to lift her batting average to .306 on the season.

Alex Cook (0-13) took the loss while allowing 13 runs, three earned, on 11 hits and a walk in 5.2 innings.

Longwood was able to overcome a 3-for-3 afternoon from Ansley Wilbanks.

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