FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood's offense was hot on Saturday afternoon to lead Lancer softball to a doubleheader sweep against North Carolina A&T. Four home runs paved the way to a 9-1 win in five innings in the opener, and the offense racked up 12 runs on 14 hits and seven N.C. A&T errors for a 12-9 win in a wild game two.
 
Alexis Wayland clobbered two homers, and Korynna Anderson and Sydney Guess added one each for the Lancers in the opener. Jaden Pone led the offensive charge in game two with four base knocks for her first career four-hit game.
 
"Our first weekend out, we didn't play as well as we wanted to," said senior Alexis Wayland. "We really wanted to come out and show what we can do on our home turf, and I'm glad we did because hopefully it'll push us going forward in the conference."
 
In the circle, Sydney Backstrom was masterful in game one by tying her career best with 13 strikeouts in five innings to earn the win.
 
"This conference, if you look at the standings, everybody is throwing punches at everybody else," said Longwood head coach Dr. Megan Brown. "There's a lot of splits. The middle of the conference is kind of muddy. One of the things we talk about is that we need to take care of folks when they're in front of us. That's probably the message from every head coach in the conference.
 
"We have an opportunity to play everybody. We want to make sure we take care of the things in our control when we have those opportunities. The team did a really good job of that."
 
The two sides square off on Sunday afternoon in the series finale at 1 p.m. at the Lancer softball field. The game will be aired on ESPN+.
 
Game One: Homers, Backstrom Power Lancers To 9-1 Win
 
Alexis Wayland hit two out of the park for her first career multi-homer game as she went 2-3 at the plate. Sydney Guess (1-1) and Korynna Anderson (1-2) each hammered one of their own as the Lancers (10-18, 4-3 Big South) won 9-1 in five innings to open the three-game series.
 
In the circle, Sydney Backstrom (8-9) did what she does best, mowing down Aggies (11-15, 2-5 Big South) left and right. She tied a career high with 13 strikeouts, including the first 10 batters of the game.
 
Backstrom struck out the side to start the game, and that paved the way for the offense in the home half of the first. Wayland and Guess cranked back-to-back homers with two outs for a 3-0 lead, the first time the team has hit back-to-back bombs this season.
 
"I have been in a slump lately so today feels great," said Wayland. "I needed to find a way out of it and I feel like I might have done that. It's great for the other girls, too. Syd Guess and Korynna, those are their first home runs on their home field, so that was awesome to see."​
 
Meanwhile, Backstrom stayed hot and proceeded to strike out 10 straight batters to start the game, not surrendering a runner until the fourth inning. Back-to-back base knocks put a run in for N.C. A&T, but Backstrom struck out the side in the fifth.
 
Wayland added a solo shot in the third inning, and Anderson's three-run blast came as part of a four-run bottom of the fifth. Kayley DeVivi delivered the game-ending run with an RBI single up the gut to give Longwood the 9-1 lead.
 
Icess Tresvik (3-4) took the loss in the circle for N.C. A&T. She gave up four runs on four hits while walking three and striking out five in 2.1 innings.
 
Game Two: Offense Muscles Out 12 Runs In 12-9 Win
 
The Longwood offense racked up a season-high 12 runs on 14 base knocks to polish off the sweep of the doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. The team also took advantage of seven N.C. A&T errors.
 
Pone led the charge by going 4-5 at the plate out of the leadoff spot, and the freshman scored twice. She was one of four players that totaled multiple hits in the game, along with Sydney Jacobsen, Lauren Taylor and Lauren Fox. Jacobsen, Taylor and Fox all picked up a pair of base hits.
 
"We talked a lot about the things we did well," said Brown about what she talked with the team about postgame. "We talked about being aggressive on the bases. We read a lot of balls in the dirt, which allowed us to advance runners. One of the things we've been spending a lot of time talking about and working on is executing with runners in scoring position."
 
The Aggies totaled nine runs on 10 hits, with Dezianna Patmon leading the way with three RBI while going 2-3 at the plate. Kayla Taylor added two base hits, including a solo home run, as the three-four-five hitters in the order combined to go 5-9 at the plate with six RBI.
 
While N.C. A&T took a 1-0 lead in the top half of the first, Longwood answered with a run of their own in the home half when Kayley DeVivi singled home Sydney Guess to even the score.
 
The Lancers ripped off eight runs in the second inning after starting the frame with four straight base hits. Taylor, Fox and Pone all had RBI base knocks back-to-back-to-back, and the Lancers were off and running. They totaled six hits and capitalized on two errors to extend the lead to 9-1.
 
N.C. A&T answered with five runs in their half of the third, with Icess Tresvik hitting home two runs with a sacrifice fly deep to center field. Kayla Taylor swatted a solo home run, and Jocelyn Bennett poked an RBI double to right field that trimmed the Longwood lead to 9-6.
 
The two sides traded runs over the remainder of the game, with Jacobsen and Taylor combining to drive in the last three runs.
 
Reagan Kanagawa (2-6) earned the win for Longwood after closing the game out in the final 2.2 innings. She struck out two.
 
Mariah Headen (0-4) took the loss for North Carolina A&T after giving up five runs on seven hits. She pitched into the second inning.
 
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