Longwood University Athletics

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Longwood is coming off a 3-2 weekend in Arkansas as they look to add more in the win column at "The Snowman" tournament hosted by Mississippi State. Longwood prepares for back-to-back doubleheaders (Friday and Saturday) where they will take on the home team Mississippi State, Belmont and South Alabama. 

So far this season, Longwood (4-6, 0-0 Big South) has earned Big South weekly honors in back-to-back weeks, beginning with Emily Vinson who earned Freshman of the Week in week one, and Sydney Backstrom as the most recent honoree for Pitcher of the Week. Two upcoming opponents will Longwood's first time facing them as a program. 
 
LONGWOOD LANCER GAME NOTES
LIVE STATS
SECN+ LIVE LINK: FRIDAY, FEB 25 vs. MISSISSIPPI STATE 
SEASON STATISTICS 

The First Pitch:

• Sydney Backstrom earned her first Big South Pitcher of the Week honor this past week after throwing 23 strikeouts against two top teams in the country, all while only allowing only 14 hits, and six walks over a three game span. 2-1 over the weekend, two of those wins came against #25 Wichita State, and Power 5 competitor Illinois.
• Kelly Park had a great weekend at the plate, hitting .417 batting average, and going 3-3 from the batter's box against #10 Arkansas. Park was 5-12, grabbing five hits, two doubles, and tow RBI's, slugging a .583 percent.
• Korynna Anderson (slug% .467) and Alexis Wayland (slug% .600) had great weekends at the plate as well against the tough competition. Anderson grabbed four RBI's, one double, and her second home run of the season. Wayland added five RBI's and a game winning triple against Illinois to her resume.
• Longwood returns a wealth of experience, especially in the circle. Two huge arms coming back, Regan Kanagawa and Sydney Backstrom the reigning Big South Pitcher of the Year. Both grabbing starts over the previous weekend, Backstrom sits with a 3-3 record, while Kanagawa sits at 1-3.
•  Kanagawa at the plate, is 2-6 on the year (.333 BA), appearing in three games as DH – grabbing the start offensively twice.
• Since joining the Big South in 2013, Longwood has never lost back-to-back games in the conference tournament, including the 2013 Big South Championship run in which they rattled off five straight wins after falling in the first round.
• Longwood has won five of the past eight Big South Championship tournaments since joining the conference in 2013 (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019).

 
By The Numbers:

• After seeing an upset in the 2021 Big South Tournament, Longwood returns in the 2022 season with a wealth of experience returning, and ranked third in the Big South Preseason Poll. 
• Sydney Backstrom is one of several returning arms for the Lancers, and was also picked as the Preseason Pitcher of the Year in the conference. Backstrom earned her first Big South Pitcher of the Week honor in week two of the 2022 season after grabbing two wins over #25 Wichita State and Power 5 Illinois. Backstrom added 23 strikeouts on the year (40 total), and holds a .288 B/AVG against.
• Emily Vinson (.310 BA) added her first Big South Freshman of the Year honor to her belt in the first week of the season. Vinson has appeared in every game for the Lancers, grabbing nine starts. Vinson has scored 10 of Longwood's 36 runs on the season. Vinson earned her first career home run in the 8-7 victory over Fresno State in game one of the Black and Gold Classic in Florida.
• Jaden Pone (.364 BA) has made a name for herself as leadoff for the Lancers grabbing ten of ten starts of the season. Pone is 12-33 from the plate, with a three at-bat hitting streak, and has reached a base successfully the last six times she's been to the plate.  
• Junior shortstop Lauren Taylor returns for the Lancers after starting and appearing in 54 games for the team in 2021. Taylor (.360 BA) has already shown great amount of efficiency on defense for the Lancers from second base and shortstop. Taylor has started seven of the first ten games from second, and has already recorded nine hits, four runs, five RBI's, one home run, 11 putouts, 14 assists, with a fielding percentage of .962.
• With 130 steals last season, Longwood is only the second team in program history to surpass the century mark in that category. Only the 1999 Lancer squad stole more bases in the program's history, swiping 136 in 53 games.

Quoteables: 

"Excited for another tough weekend against great teams. We have spent the week working to grow our game on both sides of the ball and look forward to the lessons that await us in Starkville." -Head Coach Megan Brown 

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