FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood head softball coach Kathy Riley earned her 800th career victory, as Longwood and Charleston Southern split Saturday's doubleheader at Lancer Field.
Charleston Southern scored three runs in the fifth inning en route to a 3-2 win before Sydney Backstrom tossed her second complete-game effort of the week in a 6-2 victory in the nightcap.

Riley, who's in her 22nd season at Longwood, now owns 800 career victories in her head coaching career which spans 26 seasons between Mount Olive and Longwood. In her 21 previous seasons with the Lancers, she has never posted a record below the .500 mark while winning 30-plus games in 14 of her 21 previous seasons to go along with three seasons with 40-plus wins.

Including her four seasons at Mount Olive prior to her arrival at Longwood, a Riley-coached team has not finished below the .500 mark since her first two campaigns with the Trojans. Saturday's feat comes nearly one month to the day of her 700th victory at Longwood.

"Today, we came out a bit flat at the plate and didn't put much pressure on their defense, but to respond with more energy and competitive spirit in the second game was something that we needed," Riley said. "That was a nice way to end the evening."

Karleigh Donovan, who went 4-for-4 at the plate in game two, finished the day 5-of-7 at the dish to lead the Lancers and raise her batting average to .315 on the season. Jordan Clark moved her hitting streak to seven consecutive games with a hit in each game of the day, while Alexis Wayland had a two-hit day in game two.

In the circle, Sydney Backstrom led the way for the Lancers with her complete-game effort, allowing two runs to score. In her last three appearances, Backstrom has pitched to a 0.82 ERA, allowing two runs in 17.2 innings pitched.

"She pitched really well," Riley said of Backstrom. "We never really felt a lot of stress and she did a good job of mixing up her pitches. Her composure of late has improved by a tremendous amount and it makes the game so much easier for us."

Longwood honored its six-player senior class – Clark, Donovan, Kaylynn 'Bug' Batten, Sydney Gay, Jessica Smith and Chelsea Whitcomb – prior to the start of game one of the day.
Longwood and Charleston Southern will play the final game of the three-game series Sunday, April 14, as first pitch has been pushed up to 12 p.m. from its original 1 p.m. start time.

"We're in a battle to win a conference title and that's important to us," Riley said. "While the ultimate goal is to go to NCAA Regionals, along the way we're in first place and we need to play our best softball every day no matter who we're playing. Charleston Southern did a good job competing in both games, so we need to match that intensity that we had from game two today."

Charleston Southern 3, Longwood 2

A three-run fifth inning for Charleston Southern led the Buccaneers to a 3-2 victory in game one of the series.

The loss for Longwood snaps a five game winning streak heading into the weekend and an 11-game winning streak in Big South play, taking control of first place in that stretch.

Annie Bakenhus led the way for the Buccaneers with a 2-for-4 performance, while Jade Gandara went 1-for-3 with two RBI, as Charleston Southern had five players combine for six hits.

Arizona Pilgrim (10-16) got the win and Holly Clark picked up the save. Pilgrim allowed two runs on three hits in six-plus innings while walking three batters and striking out four. Clark retired all three Lancers she faced.

Clark hit a home run in the fourth inning and Sydney Jacobsen came off the bench to hit a dinger in the seventh inning, as the Lancers had three hits in the game.

Sydney Gay (9-7) took the loss, allowing three runs on six hits and two walks in 5.2 innings while adding a season-high eight strikeouts.

Arleigh Wood pitched the final 1.1 innings, retiring all four batters she faced.

Longwood 6, Charleston Southern 2

Donovan went 4-for-4 with a double and a run scored, as Longwood scored combined to score three runs in the first two innings en route to a 6-2 win behind a complete-game performance from Backstrom.

Donovan's four-hit game marked the first for a Lancer since Smith finished with four hits last season against Northern Illinois, as it marks her 10th multi-hit game of the season. The performance raised her batting average from a .292 clip to start the day to .315, second on Longwood's roster.

Wayland also finished with a multi-hit performance, as the top four batters in Longwood's lineup combined for all eight hits.

"The kids that are your more talented hitters are going to make others people better because it gets other people to relax more," Riley said of the top four in her lineup. "There are more opportunities to score and gain momentum. Going forward, obviously we want everybody to feel like they're contributing, but those first four or five in the lineup do need to get it started for us."

Meanwhile, Backstrom (12-7) posted her second complete-game effort of the week, allowing two runs on six hits in her 10th complete-game effort of the season and collect her second straight win.

Holly Clark started the game for Charleston Southern, before giving way to Arizona Pilgrim, who took the loss in three innings of relief, giving up three runs on four hits.

Brooklyn Brewington led the Buccaneers at the plate, going 2-for-3.

#GoWood