RADFORD, Va. – For five games, Longwood softball went to bat without its cleanup hitter. Wednesday morning against Big South rival Radford, Lancer slugger Nia Green made up for the lost time.
 
With the score tied at 1-1 in the top of the sixth inning, Longwood's sophomore left fielder crushed a go-ahead three-run homer that put the Lancers (19-20, 8-4 Big South) on top for good and stood as the game-winner in a series-clinching 4-3 victory over the Highlanders at Radford Softball Stadium.
 
Green's blast punctuated a sixth-inning rally that erased Radford's 1-0 lead and locked up the three-game rivalry series on Radford's home field. After three-hitter Alexis Wayland drove in the game-tying run on a booted ground ball by Radford shortstop Autumn Slemaker, Green made the error hurt once more when she deposited the second pitch she saw over the outfield wall for her fourth home run of the season.
 
The homer was Green's fourth game-winning hit of the season, following her go-ahead homer in the fifth inning of a 6-4 win at Winthrop on March 27, and her back-to-back walk-off single and walk-off home run in a doubleheader sweep of Bucknell on March 13.
 
Green's latest game-winner Wednesday plated Wayland and Sydney Jacobsen and gave Lancer starter Sydney Backstrom (14-9) just enough of a cushion to hold off a late rally that saw the Highlanders (14-24, 7-5 Big South) score twice in the bottom of the sixth to cut Longwood's lead to 4-3. That would be the final salvo for Radford, however, as Backstrom retired the side in order in the seventh to secure her Big South-leading 14th win and 17th complete game of the season.
 
"I'm very proud of the response by our team today," said Longwood's first-year head coach Dr. Megan Brown. "We played a full game in all three areas, worked together and played Longwood softball."
 
With Green back in the lineup, the Lancers touched up Radford for 11 extra-base hits in the series, including homers from Green, Wayland, Leah Powell and Lauren Taylor. Wednesday's victory also gave Longwood its eighth consecutive Big South series win over Radford and expanded Longwood's all-time lead in the rivalry series to 31-19 overall and 22-4 since joining the Big South in 2013.
 
But the Highlanders, who went 13-3 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season and are just three seasons removed from a runner-up finish in the 2018 Big South Championship, came within six outs of snapping that streak Wednesday thanks to three RBI from three-hitter Talia Douglas and a strong first five innings from team ERA leader Riley Oakes (2-5).
 
Radford entered the day with the momentum of a 10-2 win in game two of Tuesday's doubleheader against the Lancers, which avenged Longwood's runaway 10-2 victory in the series opener. The Highlanders gave the ball to Oakes Sunday for her first pitching appearance of the series, and the two-way outfielder responded by blanking the Lancers through the first five innings.
 
An RBI groundout from Douglas in the bottom of the fourth gave the Highlanders their first lead of the game, but Longwood finally got to the right-handed Oakes in the top of the sixth. The four-run rally started with a six-pitch walk drawn by red-hot leadoff batter Lauren Taylor and continued with a single from Jacobsen that left runners on first and second. Wayland then drove a ground ball to shortstop that Slemaker mishandled, allowing Taylor to score the tying run and Jacobsen and Wayland to occupy first and second base with one out. Green then stepped to the plate and, with her second hit of the series, blasted a three-run shot to put Longwood ahead 4-1.
 
Radford responded with three hits in the bottom of the sixth, including a two-run double from Douglas, to trim Longwood's lead to 4-3, but Backstrom bounced back by striking out two of the final four batters she faced to bring her final line to four hits, three runs allowed, six strikeouts and no walks in her second complete game of the three-game series.
 
Now in sole possession of third place in the Big South standings, the Lancers will continue conference play with another three-game road series this Saturday and Sunday, April 17-18, at Presbyterian.
 
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