FARMVILLE, Va. – Despite another gem from reigning Big South Pitcher of the Week Sydney Backstrom, No. 24 James Madison showcased its top-25 prowess and rode a pair of dominant starts from Alissa Humphrey and Odicci Alexander to sweep a doubleheader against Longwood, 1-0 and 6-0, Wednesday at Lancer Field.
 
One of the nation's most formidable pitching duos, Humphrey (10-0) and Alexander (5-0) both stayed unbeaten and sent the Dukes (24-1) to their first two wins as a ranked program this season after finally breaking into the NFCA/USA Today Coaches Poll Tuesday.
 
Humphrey and Alexander, both under the tutelage of former Longwood pitcher and current James Madison pitching coach Libby Morris, entered the day ranked No. 1 and 2 in the Colonial Athletic Association in ERA and opponent batting average, and among the nation's top 30 in strikeouts per seven innings. Both put their power arms to use, recording 15 strikeouts apiece and holding Longwood (21-23) to just two hits to extend James Madison's winning streak to 14 games.
 
In the opener, however, Humphrey found an equal in Backstrom (16-10), who went toe-to-toe with the freshman phenom in a 1-0 pitcher's duel that featured a combined 24 strikeouts and just six hits allowed by the dueling aces. Backstrom, who four days ago threw the first perfect game in Longwood softball's Division I era, matched Humphrey's strikeout-heavy approach with nine punchouts of her own, doing so against a James Madison offense that ranks among the nation's top five in scoring, walks and home runs per game.
 
However, the lone blemish on Backstrom's day – a two-out RBI single from leadoff batter Kate Gordon in the top of the fifth – proved to be all the run support Humphrey needed, as the Dukes held on to win despite managing the fewest runs and hits they have in a single game all season.
 
But while Humphrey and Backstrom provided each other little room for error in one of the most well-pitched games of the 2020 college softball season, Alexander was in a league of her own in game two. The two-way standout and two-time NFCA All-American was nearly untouchable, racking up 15 strikeouts in her 7.0 innings of work. Only singles from Longwood first baseman Madison Blair and center fielder Lauren Taylor stood in the way of what would have been James Madison's third no-hitter of the season.
 
Longwood starter Leigha Hill and reliever Angelina Sherba kept James Madison's bats in check, scattering eight hits and three leadoff solo homers, but with the senior Alexander locked in on the other side the Lancers put just three runners on base.
 
"This time of the season, it's a really good check for us getting ready for postseason," said Longwood head coach Dr. Megan Brown. "That's the kind of team we're going to see in the postseason, so it's good to see where we are, what areas we need to improve in and grow in as a team.
 
"Our list is really clear for the rest of the week. We have Charleston Southern this weekend, and they'll come out ready to roll so we'll need to be at our best and continue to make adjustments for the last two weeks of the season going into the Big South tournament."
 
The two-game set against the Dukes is the second-to-last non-conference series the Lancers will play this season and sends them into an eight-game stretch to end the regular season. Six of those games will be crucial Big South matchups, including a trip to Charleston Southern this Saturday and Sunday, and a season-ending showdown against fellow Big South frontrunner USC Upstate on May 8-9. In-between those three-game series will be the non-conference finale at North Carolina A&T on May 2 in Greensboro, N.C.
 
Game One: Backstrom & Humphrey Go Toe-to-Toe in 1-0 James Madison Win
 
It took one of the top offenses in the country and one of the nation's top pitchers to overcome Longwood ace Sydney Backstrom, but No. 24 James Madison grinded out a 1-0 win in game one of Wednesday's doubleheader at Lancer Field.
 
In a midweek pitcher's duel between Longwood's All-Big South senior Backstrom and James Madison freshman Alissa Humphrey, the two aces combined for 24 strikeouts, just six hits and one run allowed as the Dukes edged out their Commonwealth rival Lancers.
 
Humphrey, a December transfer to James Madison who has jumped out to a 10-0 start and a 1.47 ERA, amassed 15 strikeouts in a two-hit shutout to stay unbeaten in her inaugural college season. She faced just two batters over the minimum, surrendering only a double to Longwood three-hitter Alexis Wayland and a single to five-hitter Mason Basdikis, en route to her team-leading fifth shutout of the year.
 
Meanwhile, Backstrom – who just four days prior threw the first perfect game in Longwood's Division I era in a 7-0 win against Presbyterian – struck out nine and held James Madison's high-powered offense to a season-low four hits and one run. The nine punchouts were also the most strikeouts any pitchers has racked up against a Dukes team that entered the game ranked third nationally in scoring, second in walks, fourth in slugging percentage and fifth in home runs per game.
 
However, that one run, which came on a two-out RBI single from leadoff batter Kate Gordon in the top of the fifth, proved to be enough to send the Dukes to their 13th consecutive win and first as a top-25 team this season.
 
That game-winning run came during the lone rough patch of the day for Backstrom, who retired the side in five of her seven innings and struck out the side in the top of the seventh. However, Gordon's two-out, go-ahead knock was her undoing, making a leadoff single by two-way player Odicci Alexander in the same inning prove costly.
 
That lone run snapped a streak of 19 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run for Backstrom and dealt her her first loss since April 7 against No. 15 Virginia Tech – a span of five consecutive complete-game starts in which she won every one.
 
Game Two: Alexander Carries Momentum Forward, Stifles Lancers in 6-0 Win
 
James Madison All-American Odicci Alexander picked up where Alissa Humphrey left off in game one, spinning her own two-hit shutout with a matching 15 strikeouts to send the Dukes past Longwood 6-0 in Wednesday's nightcap.
 
Alexander was dominant from start to finish, taking a no-hitter into the fifth before Madison Blair broke it up with a leadoff single, and striking out six of the final eight batters she faced. The strikeout-heavy performance came on just 88 pitches and featured just one walk as the 5-7 senior stayed unbeaten and dropped her ERA to 1.40 on the year.
 
Longwood starter Leigha Hill turned in a strong performance of her own, scattering three runs on five hits in a career-long 4.0-inning start, but Alexander did more than enough to make those runs stand to the end. Longwood reliever Angelina Sherba followed Hill and surrendered three runs on three hits over the final 3.0 frames.
 
Three of James Madison's runs came on leadoff solo homers, beginning with Kate Gordon's solo shot just two pitches into the game. Two-hitter Sara Jubas had the other two, leading off consecutive innings with solo blasts in the sixth and seventh innings. Those two finished with two RBI apiece to drive in two-thirds of James Madison's runs.
 
Longwood's lone hits came from Blair and sophomore center fielder Lauren Taylor, who followed Blair's leadoff single in the fifth with a one-out knock of her own. That hit moved runners to first and second, but Alexander stranded both of them there with back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.
 
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