The First Pitch
•   In their first midweek matchups of the season, Longwood will place back-to-back doubleheaders against Liberty and Marshall Tuesday and Wednesday.
•   Tuesday's twinbill at Liberty will mark the end of a stretch of 17 consecutive road games to open to the season.Â
•   Wednesday's twinbill against Bucknell will be the 2021 home opener and the first home games for first-year head coach
Dr. Megan Brown.Â
•   Longwood's early-season gauntlet has pitted them against three top-25 teams, as well as a Liberty squad that has received votes in every USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll this season. In total, Longwood has seven scheduled games against top-25 teams and six others against teams that are receiving votes.
•   Longwood has one top-25 win to its credit in 2021 with a 3-2 takedown of No. 16 Georgia on Feb. 20.
•   Longwood is under the leadership of first-year head coach
Dr. Megan Brown, whose coaching career has included stints at Auburn, Boston College and Cal. She took over the Lancer program in August of 2020 following the retirement of 820-game winner and three-time Big South Coach of the Year
Kathy Riley.Â
•   The Lancers have won five of the Big South's past seven conference championships, including the league's postseason tournament in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019 and regular-season titles in 2015, 2016 and 2019.
•   Longwood has won three consecutive home openers dating back to the 2018 season.
Last Time Out
•   Longwood won a three-game series against East Carolina at the Liberty Softball Classic while dropping a pair of games against host Liberty at the three-day tournament at Kamphuis Field.
•   The Lancers dropped the opener against East Carolina 9-2 but rallied behind a pair of complete games from
Sydney Backstrom to win the final two matchups, 2-1 and 4-1.
•   Liberty won both meetings against Longwood at the tournament, 19-3 and 10-0.
•   Backstrom carried the load in the circle for Longwood, going 2-1 with a 1.24 ERA over 17.0 innings and a pair of complete games.
By The Numbers
•   Senior RHP
Sydney Backstrom was named Big South Pitcher of the Week Monday for the second time in her career.
•   At the Liberty Softball Classic, Backstrom made three starts, went 2-1 and logged a 1.24 ERA in her 17.0 innings. She earned both of those wins with complete games against East Carolina, surrendering just one run in both outings including an 8.0-inning marathon Saturday.
•   Three of Longwood's four wins have come in games Backstrom has started, while the other — a 3-2 upset of No. 16 Georgia — saw her earn a two-out save after coming into the game in the bottom of the seventh.
•   Backstrom has thrown 58 percent of Longwood's total innings this season while appearing in 11 of the team's 15 games.Â
•   Junior utility fielder
Sydney Jacobsen has paced Longwood's offense, leading the team in RBI (11), hits (12), slugging (.533), triples (2) and home runs (2). Jacobsen has hit in the No. 3 spot in 14 of 15 games this season and cleanup once.
•   Junior DP
Madison Blair has reached base safely in eight consecutive games and in 11 of her 14 games overall. She ranks second in the Big South with 10 walks and leads the team with a .436 on base percentage.Â
•   Longwood has played the second-most games in the Big South with 15, doing so despite a four-game opening-weekend series at NC State getting canceled due to inclement weather. The Lancers have played at least five games in three straight weekends and have seven scheduled this week.
•   Lancer junior 3B
Mason Basdikis is a perfect 6-for-6 stealing bases this season and 26-of-29 for her career. She has swiped 14 in a row and has not been caught since her freshman year.
•   Junior utility players
Sydney Jacobsen and
Alexis Wayland have split the load behind the plate over the past two seasons, with Jacobsen starting behind the plate 15 times and Wayland 19. When not behind the plate, those two man the infield corners, with Jacobsen starting eight games at first base this season and Wayland three at third.
•   Ten of Longwood's originally scheduled 35 non-conference games this season are against teams from the ACC and SEC. The Lancers face four teams rankedin the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll Top 25 and two others that have received votes in every poll.
•   Longwood pitchers have induced 8.93 groundouts per game, second most in the Big South.
•   Since making the jump to the Division I level in 2008, Longwood has advanced to five NCAA Regionals. All of those have come by way of the Big South's automatic bid, as the Lancers have won five of the past seven Big South Championship postseason tournaments.
•   Since joining the Big South, Longwood players have received league-leading 43 All-Big South awards, including first team, second team and honorable mention. The next closest to Longwood is former Big South member Liberty, which had 27 until leaving the conference after the 2018 season.
Quotable
"I love it when a team comes together and works hard for each other. We saw that today and got a well-earned win to show for it."
 — First-year Longwood softball head coach
Dr. Megan Brown on following Longwood's series win over East Carolina
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