FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood clinched the series on Saturday with a monstrous 12-1 win over Presbyterian. 

"I was really proud of the way they came out today," said Head Coach Megan Brown. "It would have been easy to come out flat today, but they came out with purpose, and very intentional of what they wanted to do today. We changed the game plan a little bit, and they were ready to do what they needed to do, and I'm just proud of their work."

"This was definitely an important game for us to get, especially with us competing for second place right now," said graduate student Sydney Backstrom. "Clinching the series today just gives us more hope that we will be able to grab first later on."
 
The first three pitches served were strikes, giving starter Sydney Backstrom her 655^th career strikeout to kick off the game. That settled the super seniors name in at the top spot of the career strikeout leaderboard. 

"I was just so happy," said Backstrom. "I've been working for this all season, and I knew it was happening, but I didn't know my teammates were going to react the way they did. It was so awesome to be able to accomplish this, but to see all that support from my teammates made me feel even better." 
 
Backstrom (15-9) threw a two-hitter complete game that ended after four and a half innings. Backstrom finished with seven strikeouts, bringing her new career total to 561 – season to 197. 

"I'm proud of every single one of our young ladies when they accomplish great things," said Coach Brown. "Obviously, Sydney has accomplished many things here, all due to her hard work and dedication. It's an exciting time. Anytime we get to award our young ladies, I mean we see them do great things every day. So, it's an exciting thing to see them be recognized a little more publicly." 
 
A one out rally in the bottom of fourth resulted in eight Lancers crossing the plate in a game they led 4-1 at the fourth inning break. 
 
Presbyterian (26-10, 12-6 Big South) saw three pitchers enter the circle on the day, unable to stop the rallying Lancers in the batter's box.
 
The home side of the fourth opened with back-to-back hits off the bats of Emily Vinson and Lauren Taylor. 
 
A throwing error by the pitcher gave Vinson's speed enough to get all the way around, opening the flood gate of scoring. 
 
Second pitcher in for the Blue Hose Haley Haselden, saw herself standing in the middle of the bases loaded with Lancers not once, but twice in the bottom half of the inning. 
 
Longwood (21-20, 14-4 Big South) capitalizing when runners got on, saw a total of six RBI's totaled on the day.
 
Freshman powerhouses Vinson and Pone both finished 2-3, scoring a combined five of Longwood's 12 runs. 
 
The Lancers were able to score eight runs, record four hits, on three Blue Hose errors all while leaving two on base by the finish of four innings. 
 
Finishing the game how they started going three up, three down, Longwood's defense recorded three hitless innings taking the huge win over the previously ranked third team in the Big South.  

"Every weekend there's a new scouting report that will come out, so what are the things we are doing well that we need to strengthen, and what are the areas we need to make sure we don't become vulnerable," said Coach Brown. "We just need to keep focus on closing up gaps on our end, and keep attacking the areas we are doing well in."
 
There is less than one month until the Big South Championship comes to Farmville. Everyone with an eye on the rankings, Longwood now sits in second, behind USC Upstate, right ahead of Campbell. 
 
Longwood hits the road for a midweek doubleheader at George Mason on Wednesday, April 20, beginning at 2 p.m. 
 
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