FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood softball is unafraid of the big moment.

In a dramatic, 15-inning marathon, Longwood catcher Kaylynn 'Bug' Batten smashed a 2-1 win over USC Upstate to hand Longwood a series sweep over the Spartans in a matchup that saw that top two teams in the Big South preseason poll go head-to-head and share the national television spotlight.

The longest game in Longwood's Division I era, Sunday's game is the latest tall moment for head coach Kathy Riley's team that has won four of the past six Big South Championships and has played in a NCAA Regional Championship in two of the past three seasons.

Playing host to an ESPNU broadcast for the second consecutive season and for the second time in program history, Batten earned a starring role when she cranked her second walk off hit of the series in a matchup against a USC Upstate team that Longwood met in the 2017 Knoxville Regional.

Batten's hit ended an epic pitcher's duel between Big South co-Preseason Pitchers of the Year, Sydney Gay and USC Upstate's Christina Biggerstaff. Gay and Biggerstaff matched each other pitch-for-pitch, before Sydney Backstrom (7-6) earned her second win of the series in four strong innings of relief.

"I was relaxed in that final at-bat," Batten said. "We made it 15 innings and for me it was just a question of who was going to come through in crunch time. I just saw the ball and tried to hit it hard. If you stay calm, good things will happen."

With the win, along with a Campbell loss to Charleston Southern, has the Lancers (17-11, 5-1 Big South) in first place in the Big South standings, as conference newcomer USC Upstate (23-10, 5-4 Big South) drops its first Big South series.

"For us to be able to put ourselves in position where we could play three excellent games in a row is big for our confidence," Riley said. "We came back in the first game yesterday when we were down 5-1 and that was growing up game. After that game, I thought we were a different group. Those types of things say a lot about teams and our growth in understanding that we need to fight all the time and be confident in who we are."

Batten's home run was part of a 2-for-2 day at the plate, as Jordan Clark joined her with a multi-hit performance and capped a weekend in which she produced a team-high three runs and added three RBI.

Karleigh Donovan also added an RBI on a sacrifice fly to left field in the fourth inning to answer a USC Upstate RBI single in the first inning from Brittany Case.
From there, the pitching staffs and defense took over.

For the Lancers, Gay tossed a career-high 11.0 innings and 147 pitches in an effort that saw her and Biggerstaff go pitch-for-pitch. It's the latest effort on a resume that already includes a Big South Tournament MVP honors, three-time All-Big South selection and inclusion to the NFCA All-Southeast Region a season ago, as she has allowed two earned runs or less in 12 of her 14 starts on the season.

"It's always fun playing a good team," Gay said. "This type of game with two good teams and being on national television, something we don't get to do a lot, is something that really makes it exciting and brings out the best in us."

Backstrom, meanwhile, came out of the bullpen in the 12th inning and allowed only two USC Upstate baserunners in four scoreless innings to back a nine strikeout
effort in earning a win Saturday.

"[Assistant coach] Kayla [Miller] really helped me in handling the pitchers," Batten said of her work behind the plate. "We just took it one at-bat at a time. Going through 15 innings is harder because you try to mix-up your sequences, but just focusing on each individual at-bat helps."

Biggerstaff (14-3) took the hard-luck loss in a complete-game effort that saw her allow two runs on eight Longwood hits, throwing 229 pitches, 149 for strikes and facing 58 batters. She walked four batters and added six strikeouts in her effort.

USC Upstate had an opportunity to take the lead in the 12th inning with a two-out single to left field from Madison Lanoux before Clark rifled a strike to Batten at the plate from her position to catch Megan Obier trying to score from second base.

Longwood, meanwhile, had an opportunity with runners on the corners in the bottom of the inning with two out, before Biggerstaff was able to get one of her 11 groundball outs to end the inning.

With its sweep over the Spartans, Longwood will now turn its attention to a midweek game against Marshall Tuesday, March 26 at 6 p.m., before welcoming Campbell to Lancer Field March 30-31 for a three-game series.

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