FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood extended its Big South win streak to 10 with back-to-back victories over Radford Saturday afternoon.
Longwood grabbed game two with back-to-back three run innings to close out the game. A grand slam called back off the bat of Leigh Hill scored three leaving the score at 8-3 to close out the evening.
"I think it's about our consistency," said Head Coach Megan Brown. "We needed to be more consistent on the mound, at the plate, and on defense. So, we're starting to put those pieces together on a regular basis, but we need to start executing when we need to. We're getting runners on, now we knock those runners in. Being able to execute in those key moments, make good plays, throw good pitches, that's all a part of putting the pieces together at the right time."
In game one, junior
Korynna Anderson and senior
Sydney Jacobsen lead the offense in early scoring to give the Lancers a large early lead.
"They've been putting in the time, and buying into what we're doing, and they've really found their rhythm," said Coach Brown. "It has started slowly, but give it time and it'll start to work."
The bats are finally ringing for Longwood just in time for Big South play, with 13 hits on the day, and 11 RBI's, the offense is coming together in time for the last month of the season.
"We just need to play Longwood softball," Brown said. "We need to play our brand of softball. It takes all 20 to win, so we need to do that, and when we do, that's our best softball."
Game three of the series will conclude between Longwood and Radford Sunday, April 10 at 1 p.m. back at Lancer Field.
Game One: Anderson And Jacobsen Powerhouse At The Plate Lead Lancers To Game One Win
The dynamic duo of
Korynna Anderson and
Sydney Jacobsen led the offensive force in the 6-2 win over Radford in game one on Saturday.
A hot home side of the first inning started off with three of the first four batters knocking it into the outfield.
Alexis Wayland reached on an error by the Highlanders (12-20, 5-8 Big South), allowing speedy freshman
Jaden Pone to finish circling the bases.
Longwood (17-19, 10-3 Big South) wasn't done in the first just yet. Jacobsen hit a sac fly deep into right field pushing sophomore Kayley Devivi home, with the Lancers in the lead 2-1 after the third recorded out.
Anderson owned the game from the plate, going 2-2 with three RBI's, a two-run double, and a homer – second at Lancer Field. Both at bats for Anderson came in the bottom of the third leaving the inning in the Lancers favor 6-1.
For Radford, Rachel Smith opened the game with a dinger on the first pitch on ace
Sydney Backstrom (13-9). Unfortunately for the conference foe the strong opening was the last bit of offensive life the Highlanders had until the seventh.
Backstrom earned another victory, and added nine strikeouts on the 26 batters faced in game one.
Game Two: Longwood Carries Momentum Over To The Nighttime Grabbing Its 10th Straight Conference Win
Another strong outing for Longwood was capped with its tenth straight Big South win Saturday night 8-3 over the Radford Highlanders.
Longwood (18-19, 11-3 Big South) finished the Highlanders (12-21, 5-9 Big South) off with back-to-back three-run innings to close out game against the south-west west conference foe.
Bats stayed hot moving into nighttime, beginning at the top of the order with
Jaden Pone and Kayley Devivi who got on with singles in the bottom of the first.
A sacrifice groundout from
Alexis Wayland scored one, giving Longwood, again, the early lead 1-0.
Regan Kanagawa (4-6) grabbed the start in game two, and the win following her no hitter outing against Hampton. Kanagawa opened the game retiring 10 straight batters from the circle.
Radford responded in the top of fourth with a double from Cori McMillan, scoring Hannah Poole evening the score at one.
Six runs over the final two offensive innings for Longwood sealed the deal, despite a solo homerun off the bat of Emily Smith to open the Highlanders last attempt for a comeback.
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