KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A Kristina Burkhardt home run in the third inning and a complete-game performance in the circle from Hannah George lifted North Carolina to a 3-1 win over Longwood Saturday afternoon inside Sherri Parker Lee Stadium in the NCAA Knoxville Regional.

The Tar Heels (36-19) end Longwood's (37-22) season that included its fifth Big South Championship in seven seasons and its third Big South Regular Season Championship in five seasons.

Burkhardt's blast came two innings after Longwood third baseman Alexis Wayland led off the Longwood order with a home run, her fifth leadoff blast of the season. The Tar Heels took advantage of a Longwood error in the inning as Lexi Godwin recorded a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Abby Settlemyre.

"We battled hard and had some opportunities to get some runs in but we just couldn't get that big hit we needed," said Longwood head coach Kathy Riley. "We didn't put together enough quality at-bats. We played good defense for the most part and pitched at a high level today."

Leah Murray, Kiani Ramsey and Settlemyre each recorded hits, as the Tar Heels combined for four hits off Longwood righty and Big South Honorable Mention selection
Sydney Gay, who (12-11) took the loss for the Lancers in her final game in a Longwood uniform, tossing a complete-game effort in allowing three runs, one earned. 
George (14-4) finished with her 10th complete-game performance of the season, allowing one run on five hits while striking out four batters and throwing 95 pitches, 72 for strikes.

Karleigh Donovan led Longwood at the plate, going 2-for-2 while Wayland's home run was her ninth of the season. In addition, Kasey Carr and Jessica Smith also collected hits.

"We didn't play our 'A' game in either of the two games but the fact that we played in the regionals," Riley said. "It's something that we can draw on as we prepare for next year in terms of wanting to be here and how important it is to us."

Longwood's six-player senior class – Donovan, Gay, Smith, Kaylynn 'Bug' Batten, Jordan Clark, and Chelsea Whitcomb – see their careers come to a close. As a class, they've captured three Big South Championships, two regular season Big South Championships, while helping Longwood advance to a pair of NCAA Regional Championship games and win 30-games in each of their four seasons.

"This senior class means a lot because of the time and energy that they put in," Riley said. They placed a lot of trust in our coaching. We had a team this year that really cared a lot about each other and had a really good camaraderie and chemistry."

Gay ends her career as one of the all-time Longwood pitching greats, as she's one of 21 players in Big South history to earn All-Big South accolades in each of her four seasons. She's one of three pitchers in Longwood history to accumulate 70-plus wins and 550-plus strikeouts.

Meanwhile, Donovan, like Gay, is a four-time All-Big South performer, earning 2019 Big South Tournament MVP honors for her third career Big South All-Tournament Team honors. Donovan, who hit .300 or better in three of four seasons.

Clark and Batten each earned All-Big South honors three times in their career, producing in the middle of the Longwood lineup. Clark, along with Donovan, hit above .300 on the season and stole 20 bases in a season that saw Longwood set a program Division I record for most stolen bases in a season. Meanwhile, Batten caught nearly every inning of her Longwood career which included more than 230 starts. In addition, Batten finished her career with 126 walks, third most all-time at Longwood behind Emily Murphy (127) and Megan Baltzell (166).

Smith's career ends with her named as a two-time Big South All-Academic Team member, as she started in more than 150 games throughout her career.Meanwhile, Whitcomb – a graduate transfer from Virginia Tech, stole 30 bases  to rank among the top-five in the Big South.

The Lancers will now turn their attention to the 2020 season where Riley will return 13 letterwinners from the 2019 team, including All-Big South first team selection Sydney Backstrom, All-Big South second team pick Jenna Dunn along with Big South All-Freshman selections Alexis Wayland and Sydney Jacobsen.

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