HAMPTON, Va. – Longwood's pitching staff was on point on Saturday afternoon at Hampton as the team won its fifth and sixth straight games.
 
The duo of Sydney Backstrom and Reagan Kanagawa combined to give up one total hit in 12 innings of softball, and the Lancers (15-18, 8-3 Big South) swept a doubleheader 4-1 and 12-1 against the Pirates (13-22, 3-8 Big South).
 
Backstrom cruised in game one, tossing a one-hitter over seven innings. While the one hit was a home run, she struck out 12 with one walk.
 
Meanwhile, Kanagawa didn't surrender a hit in game two in the five inning win. The redshirt-junior struck out four against one unearned run in her first collegiate no-hitter.
 
That was plenty with an offense that totaled 26 hits over the two games. Alexis Wayland, Kayley DeVivi and Korynna Anderson had four hits apiece on the day for Longwood. Eleven of Longwood's base knocks went for extra bases, with Anderson and Sydney Jacobsen swatting homers in game two.
 
"Great team wins today," said Longwood head coach Megan Brown. "So excited for them to see their hard work paying off. They have been so close to breaking through, and I'm proud of their dedication and resilience to stay the course."
 
Longwood has a chance to sweep the series on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
 
Game One: Longwood 4, Hampton 1
 
Backstrom's (11-9) one-hitter set the tone for the day. The Lancer ace struck out at least two batters in five of her seven innings. She gave up one walk and one base hit, a solo homer to Emily Kepple in the fifth, as her only blemishes.
 
The Lancer offense gave her the lead in the second inning after Jaden Pone singled home Lauren Fox.
 
DeVivi came home to score in the third, and Longwood added two more in the fifth on RBI singles from Jacobsen and Anderson.
 
While Kepple hit a leadoff homer in the home half of the fifth to cut Longwood's lead to 4-1, Backstrom retired nine straight to close out the game.
 
Emily Workman (6-3) took the loss for Hampton after giving up two runs, one earned, on six hits in four innings. She struck out three.
 
Game Two: Longwood 12, Hampton 1
 
Kanagawa (3-6) one-upped Backstrom with a five-inning no-no in game two. She faced two more than the minimum of 15 batters in her five innings of work, and she struck out four while only giving up two walks and one unearned run.
 
While Kanagawa was dominating in the circle, the Lancer bats stayed hot and ripped off a dozen runs, tying a season high.
 
Devivi opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first, but Longwood evaporated the floodgates with a nine-run second inning. Fox opened the scoring with a two-run double to center field, and the Lancers were off to the races. Sydney Guess, DeVivi, Wayland and Leigha Hill all drove in runs with base knocks. Anderson cranked a two-run home run to left field, and Kelly Park had a sac fly that made it 10-0 after two innings.
 
Jacobsen added her two-run homer in the third to give Longwood a 12-0 lead.
 
Hampton did scrape across an unearned run in the fifth, but that was it as Kanagawa finished off the Pirates.
 
Kiaya Jeusi (4-9) took the loss for Hampton after giving up seven runs, five earned, on six hits in 1.1 innings.
 
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