ORLANDO, Fla – Longwood softball came out swinging to open the season at the CFX Classic at the University of Central Florida. The Lancers  took on Fresno State and 12^th ranked Georgia and earned a split on the day.
 
A late inning rally paved the way for a come-from-behind 8-7 win over Fresno State to start the season, but the Georgia Bulldogs held off the Lancers 4-2 in the second game of the day.
 
A variety of players did damage on the day for the Lancer offense, as Longwood (1-1) hit three homers on the day. Alexis Wayland and Emily Vinson each swatted homers against Fresno State, and Korynna Anderson smacked a solo shot against Georgia. Vinson posted back-to-back two-hit games and finished the day 4-5 at the plate with four runs scored.

"It was a good team win for the opener," said head coach Megan Brown. "Took all 20 of our young ladies to do it and that is when we play our best as a team. There was a lot of good things from our first day and we're excited for the oppeotunities for growth."
 
Longwood is back in action with two more tomorrow night, as they take on Minnesota at 4:30 followed by the hosts in Central Florida at 7 p.m. The game against Central Florida will air on ESPN+.
 
Game 1: Longwood Rallies Past Fresno State 8-7
 
Seven runs over the fourth and fifth innings, combined with an 11-strikeout performance from Sydney Backstrom, lifted Longwood over Fresno State in the team's season opener.
 
Offensively, Alexis Wayland and Emily each racked up a pair of base hits, and both homered as well for a Longwood offense that pieced together 10 hits on the day, with eight players tallying at least one. Wayland also added three RBI.
 
Sydney Backstrom, the preseason Big South Pitcher of the Year, displayed her dominance in the circle, pitching a complete game and striking out 11. She threw 111 pitches, 65% of which were strikes, and only allowed nine baserunners all day. The graduate student gave up seven runs, but only four were earned to earn the win.
 
Alex Wright led Fresno State (0-1) with a pair of RBI, but the Bulldogs only managed to scrape together five hits off Backstrom.
 
Fresno State struck first with a trio of runs in the first two innings, but Longwood put together a huge response in the fourth and fifth innings by plating seven runs. In the fourth, Korynna Anderson doubled home Vinson to get Longwood on the board before stealing home herself a few plays later.
 
Wayland swatted a three-run home run in the fifth to give Longwood the lead as part of a five-run inning. Lauren Taylor cranked a two-run double as well that pushed the Lancer lead to 7-3.
 
After Fresno State trimmed the lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, Vinson cranked her solo home run in the seventh that proved to be the difference. Fresno State's Keahilele Mattson hit a solo homer in the home half of the seventh, but Backstrom shut the door by retiring back-to-back batters to finish the game.
 
The loss went to Fresno State's Marley Hanlon, who gave up four runs, three of which were earned, after coming on in relief in the fourth inning.
 
Game two: Georgia Staves Off Longwood Rally, Downs Lancers 4-2
 
After a come-from-behind win to open the season, Longwood was the team that struck first in the second game of the day, but it was Georgia who pulled out a 4-2 win.
 
Offense was tough to come by in the game, as Longwood tallied six hits to Georgia's five. However, the Bulldogs scraped home three runs in the fourth and fifth innings while forcing Longwood to strand six base runners on the day.
 
Longwood transfer Korynna Anderson opened the scoring in the second inning with her first career home run in a Lancer uniform, eighth of her college career.
 
Georgia had the answer right away though, as Lyndi Rae Davis singled into left field allowing junior Sara Mosley to turn and get to home evening the score at 1-1.
 
Davis did the damage again with a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth, scoring Sydney Kuma and Hayley Eaton. Davis finished the game with two hits and three RBI while also drawing a walk.
 
Jaden Pone poked home a run for the Lancers in the fifth inning as part of a two-hit day, but Georgia held on from that point to preserve the win. Emily Vinson added two hits and a run for Longwood in the game.
 
In the circle, Lauren Mathis (1-0) earned the win for Georgia while Britton Rogers earned the save by throwing the final 2.1 innings.
 
Reagan Kanagawa (0-1) took the loss for Longwood despite a solid effort in her first start for the Lancers. The transfer pitched 4.1 innings with three strikeouts over 84 pitches before giving way to Backstrom.
 
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