Longwood University Athletics

FARMVILLE, Va. – From the circle to the classroom, Longwood softball's tradition of excellence in the Big South continued Tuesday afternoon.
 
Headlined by Big South Pitcher of the Year and All-Big South first-team selection Sydney Backstrom, four Lancers were named to the All-Big South team and two others received league honors in the Big South's 2021 postseason softball awards unveiling.
 
Junior Sydney Jacobsen, who emerged as one of the league's top hitting and fielding first baseman this year, also joined Backstrom on this year's All-Big South first team, while utility player Mason Basdikis was named to the second team and outfielder Nia Green earned a spot on the honorable mention squad.
 
Meanwhile freshman outfielder Lauren Fox was named to the Big South All-Freshman team and junior catcher Alexis Wayland appeared on the Big South All-Academic squad.
 
Those Big South awards, and an eighth straight top-three league finish in 2021, continue a now nine-year trend of award-winning and championship success for Longwood softball in the Big South. Winners of five of the past seven Big South championships, the Lancers have now amassed 47 All-Big South awards and nine major conference awards since joining the conference in 2013. Backstrom is the fourth Longwood softball player to win one of the Big South's major awards, standing alongside two-time winner Elizabeth 'Biz' McCarthy (2015, 2016), and Big South Players of the Year Megan Baltzell (2014, 2015) and Brooke Short (2013), who teamed up to win three consecutive Big South Player of the Year honors from 2013-15.
 
This year's crop of Lancer award-winners comes in the midst of a 2021 season in which the Longwood earned its eighth consecutive top-three Big South finish and enters this week's Big South Softball Championship as the No. 3 seed with a 14-7 conference record. The Lancers won league series against six of their seven Big South opponents, including sweeps over Gardner-Webb and Winthrop and a two-games-to-one win over Big South No. 2 seed USC Upstate in the regular-season finale.
 
Longwood's 2021 season is far from over, though, as the Lancers open their Big South postseason gauntlet this Thursday, May 13, with a 1 p.m. semifinal matchup against the two-seed Spartans in Boiling Springs, N.C.
 
Taking Longwood into the postseason is the pitching ace Backstrom, who in her first season under the tutelage of head coach Dr. Megan Brown took home the league's top pitching honor after leading the conference in wins, opponent batting average, innings, complete games and shutouts.
 
Backstrom's Big South Pitcher of the Year award is also the fourth major conference award earned by a Longwood student-athlete this season, setting a school record for the most such honors in a single academic year since the Lancers joined the conference in 2012-13. Along with Backstrom, women's basketball junior Akila Smith was named Big South Defensive Player of the Year, and women's lacrosse graduate student Dana Joss and women's soccer senior Carrie Reaver were both named Big South Scholar-Athletes of the Year.
 
Backstrom's award came on the strength of a 19-11 record, a 2.46 ERA, .187 opponent batting average and 179 strikeouts compared to just 72 walks. She enters this weekend's Big South Championship tournament ranked atop the conference leaderboards and among the nation's top three with 193.1 innings, 23 complete games and five shutouts while throwing nearly 60 percent of Longwood's innings this season.
 
The right-handed Backstrom has been even more dominant in Big South play, going 11-3 with a 1.76 ERA while holding Big South hitters to a .160 clip. She made at least two starts in all seven Big South series this season and was the winning pitcher in a league-high 11 of Longwood's 14 Big South wins.
 
Backstrom also made history this season when she threw a seven-inning perfect game in a Big South win at Presbyterian on April 17, which was the first perfect game in Longwood softball history. That was one of five shutouts this season and the second career no-hitter for Backstrom, who has already broken Longwood's all-time record for complete games and currently sits among the program's top five in career strikeouts.
 
With Backstrom anchoring the Lancers in the circle, Jacobsen spearheaded longwood's offense at the plate by leading the team in batting average (.263), hits (44), doubles (13), triples (4), slugging percentage (.479) and extra-base hits (22). Hitting almost exclusively in the No. 2 and No. 3 slots in the Longwood lineup, the All-Big South first-team first baseman started and played every inning of every game while driving in 29 runs – second most on the team – and scoring 26, making her one of four 20-20 run-producers on the squad.
 
Jacobsen spread that steady production throughout the season, leading Longwood with nine multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI games, including a career-high four RBI in a 4-1 win over East Carolina on March 7. She was one of the top hitters in Big South play as well, batting .310 with a .535 slugging percentage in her 21 conference contests. Also one of the most sure-handed first basemen in the conference, she made just one error in conference play and posted a .981 fielding percentage for the season.
 
On the opposite side of the infield from Jacobsen, utility player Mason Basdikis earned the first All-Big South honor of her career as one of the top base-stealers in the nation. Starting games at third base, shortstop and in the outfield, Basdikis went a perfect 29-for-29 stealing this year to rank second in the conference and among the top 25 nationally in stolen bases. She ranked second in the NCAA in steals among players who did not get caught this season and, in the process, extended her two-year streak to 38 consecutive steals without being caught.
 
Basdikis also crossed the plate 24 times but did more than just run wild on the base paths, driving in 20 runs while sending five of her 32 hits for extra-bases. She was also one of Longwood's toughest outs in conference play while batting .288 in 21 Big South games. She enters this week's Big South tournament as one of Longwood's hottest hitters, going 5-for-8 in a season-ending three-game series win over USC Upstate this past weekend.
 
Playing behind Basdikis in left field this season was the breakout slugger Green, whose All-Big South honorable mention citation came on the strength of a sophomore season in which she hit .261 with six doubles, three triples, five home runs and 21 RBI – all career highs. Included in her season's resume were four late-inning game-winning hits, including a walk-off single and a walk-off home run in the same day in a doubleheader sweep over Bucknell.
 
Green had a number of offensive outbursts in 2021, headlined by a two-homer, five-RBI game against Bucknell. She also drove in three runs with a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning of a 4-3 victory against Radford, which was one of her four multi-RBI games this year.
 
Also contributing among those aforementioned Longwood veterans this year was the freshman speedster Lauren Fox, who made an immediate impact in her inaugural collegiate season by starting 27 games and hitting .253 with 12 steals and 17 runs scored.

Splitting time as Longwood's starting right fielder and a pinch runner, Fox was caught stealing just twice all year. At the plate, she tagged four of her 20 hits for doubles, strung together a six-game hitting streak, and enjoyed a nine-game tear that saw her hit .500 with 10 runs and six steals during Longwood's 9-0 stretch from March 10-27.
 
Wayland, Longwood's RBI and runs leader also earned recognition on the Big South All-Academic Team, earning that distinction for a second straight year. A kinesiology major with a minor in neurostudies, she is a perennial Longwood President's List honoree and only the third Lancer to earn multiple Big South All-Academic Team awards, joining Kelsey Sweeney (2016, 2017) and Amy Putnam (2013, 2014).
 
Wayland's success in the classroom runs parallel to her success on the field, as this year she continued to assert herself as one of the Big South's top run-producers. Hitting in the top four spots of Longwood's batting order all season, she sent 14 of her 42 hits for extra bases, including six home runs and eight doubles – both the second most on the team. Her 32 RBI and 27 runs scored were also a team high and ranked among the Big South's top 10. She caught a team-high 41 of Longwood's 42 games, including both games of 12 doubleheaders this season. She was also behind the plate for all seven innings of Backstrom's perfect game on April 17.
 
2021 Big South Softball Awards
 
First-Team All-Conference
OF        Destini England, Gr., Campbell
OF        Sydney Fisher, Sr., Radford
OF        Bri Bryant, R-Jr., Campbell
•1B      Sydney Jacobsen, Jr., Longwood
2B         Brooklynn Brewington, Jr., Charleston Southern
SS         Sarah Price, Soph., USC Upstate
3B         Talia Douglas, Sr., Radford
C           Peyton Darnell, Fr., USC Upstate
•P         Sydney Backstrom, Sr., Longwood
P           Georgeanna Barefoot, R-Fr., Campbell
DP        Madyson Watson, Gr., Winthrop
UTL      Riley Oakes, Soph., Radford
 
Second-Team All-Conference
OF        Macy McCall, Soph., Winthrop
OF        Claudia Ware, R-Soph., Campbell
OF        Bre Cooper, Fr., USC Upstate
1B         Ansley Gilreath, Gr., Winthrop
2B         Tiffany Domingue, Fr., USC Upstate
SS         Autumn Slemaker, Soph., Radford
3B         Delany McDilda, Fr., Campbell
C           Taylor Charlton, Sr., Winthrop
P           Mallie Brown, Jr., USC Upstate
P           Haley Haselden, Sr., Presbyterian College
DP        Kayla Fredendall, R-Jr., Campbell
•UTL    Mason Basdikis, Jr., Longwood
 
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Weslyn Almond, OF, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Madison Canady, 1B, Soph., Radford
•Nia Green, OF, Soph., Longwood
Leslie McNeil, UTL, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Jesse Marvin, P, Jr., Radford
 
All-Freshman Team
Bre Cooper, OF, Fr., USC Upstate
Georgeanna Barefoot, P, R-Fr., Campbell
Peyton Darnell, C, Fr., USC Upstate
Delaney McDilda, 3B, Fr., Campbell
Kayla Howald, P, R-Fr., Campbell
Aisha Weixlmann, P, Fr., Winthrop
Bailey Warren, OF/DP, Fr., Winthrop
Kaitlyn Tucker, SS, Fr., Winthrop
•Lauren Fox, OF, Fr., Longwood
Kaitlyn Tucker, 2B/SS, Fr., Presbyterian College
Tiffany Dominque, 2B, Fr., USC Upstate
Savannah Brown, P, Fr., USC Upstate
 
All-Academic Team
Destini England, OF, Gr., Campbell
Annah Junge, P, Soph., Charleston Southern
Brooke Perry, P, R-Sr., Gardner-Webb
Yndeiah Kilby, OF, Soph., Hampton
•Alexis Wayland, C, Jr., Longwood
Katelyn Petty, Jr., Presbyterian
Sydney Fisher, OF, Sr., Radford
Sarah Price, SS, R-Soph., USC Upstate
Ansley Gilreath, 1B, Gr., Winthrop
 
Player of the Year
Destini England, OF, Gr., Campbell
 
Pitcher of the Year
•Sydney Backstrom, Sr., Longwood
 
Freshman of the Year
Bre Cooper, OF, USC Upstate
 
Coach of the Year
Sharonda McDonald, Campbell
 
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Sydney Fisher, OF, Sr., Radford
 
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