FARMVILLE, Va. – Junior ace Sydney Gay tossed 6.2 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts to lead the Longwood softball team extended its winning streak to five games in a 4-3 win in the series opener against Winthrop Friday afternoon at Lancer Field.

With the performance, Gay captured her second 20-win season in her three years at Longwood, as she didn't allow more than Winthrop baserunner to reach base in an inning.
The Carrollton, Va., product has earned wins in each of her last four games and seven of her last 11 appearances.

Gay aided the surging first-place Lancers (29-13, 13-3 Big South) to their fifth consecutive win, as Longwood is two wins away from clinching a bye into the second day of the Big South Championship.

"I was really happy with our pitching performance," said Longwood head coach Kathy Riley. "Winthrop has some good hitters and we were able to mix it up well against them."

In Gay's 27 starts during the season, she has only allowed more than three earned runs on four occasions and has 13 performances in which she has struck out at least five batters. The junior ace enters the top 10 for the third consecutive season with her 135th strikeout of the campaign, as she looks for her second season with at least 150 punchouts in her three years in a Longwood uniform.

"Sydney threw the ball on both sides of the plate really well and had good control," Riley said. "She didn't get behind many hitters. I didn't think Winthrop had many good looks at us."

Krista Kelly led the Lancers offensively with a 1-for-2 performance with a pair of runs scored and an RBI, as she moved her batting average to .298 on the season. Kelly got the Longwood offense going as part of a three-run third inning with a single up the middle to plate Jessica Smith who reached with a bunt single.

"I just tried to go up there and be aggressive," Kelly said. "She was throwing a lot of first pitch strikes. I knew she would throw me inside because she had the previous at-bat.

"We were struggling a little up until that point and it's my job as a leadoff to really be that starter. That ball found a hole and that helped get things going."

Kaylynn Batten extended her reached base streak to a Longwood season-high 21 consecutive games with an RBI triple while Destiny Martinez, Jordan Clark and Jessica also recorded hits in the game.

"I thought we could've attacked the ball better at the plate and," Riley said. "There were also a couple of critical decisions that we should've made that would've limited opportunities for them to score runs."

Kylie Majette took the loss for the Eagles (16-26, 6-10), giving up four runs on five hits and a pair of walks in five innings while striking out four different Lancers. Keleigh Romine pitched a perfect sixth inning for Winthrop.

Longwood was able to overcome a 3-for-4 day with two RBI from Winthrop leadoff batter Ashley Westbrooks while Blake Wallert and Tori Walker each added a pair of hits for the Eagles.

The Lancers go for the series sweep against Winthrop Saturday with first pitch set for 1 p.m. from Lancer Field. Longwood will honor its five seniors – Krista Kelly, Haleigh Kilby, Sydney Mundell, Kelsey Sweeney and Glenn Walters prior to the first pitch.

"It's important not only to celebrate the seniors but I want them to feel good when they leave the field," Riley said. "This is an opportunity that happens once in a lifetime for the senior class to have a chance to win four years in a row. That's something that doesn't happen very often in the Big South and they'll have that opportunity to look forward to down the road at the conference tournament."

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