FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood softball needed a little extra grit against USC Upstate on a windy Saturday afternoon.
Reggie Kanagawa supplied plenty of it in the circle, the Lancer bats got going at the plate, and Longwood (17-11, 4-1 Big South) swept USC Upstate (27-9, 4-5 Big South) in a doubleheader 9-6, 4-3 to take the series.
Kanagawa earned the win in both contests, with a tough relief effort in the circle in the first game followed by a complete game win in the second. She finished the day with 10 innings of work, and she limited a potent Upstate offense to four runs on four walks and 10 hits.
On offense,
Kelly Park,
Lindsey Hay and
Jaden Pone all powered balls over the outfield wall in the first game. In game two, a bevy of timely base hits proved to be the difference for the Lancers.
"I'm very, very proud of their fight and that they stayed with the process," said Longwood Head Coach
Dr. Megan Brown. "They didn't press when they were down. They took a couple of innings to work it back, but they took it one pitch at a time. It's stuff that we've been talking about. They're starting to see the fruits of their hard work, and I'm proud of them."
After dropping the opener on Friday night, the Lancers could have let a bad second inning that led to four USC Upstate runs knock them down in the first game. They didn't.
Instead, the Lancers got back up off the mat and returned the punches blow for blow.
Kelly Park muscled a two-run home run to left field in the second, and
Lindsey Hay added a three-run blast in the third.
After USC Upstate tied the game in the fourth, the Lancers saved their biggest blow for the fifth.
Jaden Pone pounded a two-out grand slam into the netting in left-center for her first collegiate home run and a 9-5 lead.
"We found our footing on offense, which was important," Brown said. "We were facing very good pitching from USC Upstate, so we had to make sure we were taking care of our business in the box, having quality at bats and staying pitch to pitch."
Meanwhile, Kanagawa took over in the circle in the fifth inning after starter
Er'ron Burton battled through four frames. Kanagawa limited the opportunities for the Spartans in the final three innings, only giving up one run on two hits and two walks to get the win.
Kanagawa returned to the circle for game two, and it was a pitcher's duel between the Lancer righthander and USC Upstate ace Alyssa Kelly.
"That's just grit and fight," Brown said of her redshirt-senior pitcher. "I'm so proud of her and her hard work and how much she's grown this year. She's had some really key performances this year. We love her to death, she's been great. I'm excited to see her finding her feet.
Both refused to give any ground, and the two offenses found themselves in a 1-1 gridlock through four innings.
Lindsey Hay had given Longwood the lead with an RBI single, but the Spartans knotted it back up at one off a couple Lancer miscues in the next half inning.
Longwood's offense finally found a sliver of daylight in the fifth inning after putting two on with two out. Park again delivered the big hit, her only one of the game, with a single to left field that scored the speedy Pone from second for a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth,
Abby Wyatt and
Emily Vinson both tacked on insurance runs with base hits.
Upstate finally pieced together a rally in the seventh, and Tiffany Domingue and Casey Goguts had back-to-back two-out RBI singles to cut the lead to 4-3. Kanagawa induced a popup on the next at bat, though, to leave the tying run stranded at second base. It was her fourth complete game of the season, and she gave up three runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out two.
"Again, in game two, we stayed with the process and had good at bats," Brown said. "We play our best when we all stay together and play together. They're a fun group, and they feed off each other. It's fun to see them stay in it and stay through it.
"They've been working really hard in non-conference play. We had a tough non-conference schedule where they had to be resilient, and that's really paying off for them now."
Longwood goes back on the road to start the week with a trip to Blacksburg to take on No. 12 Virginia Tech in a doubleheader on Tuesday. The first game is set for 3 p.m., and it will be aired on WVHL 92.9 Kickin' Country. Game two will begin at 6 p.m., and it will be aired on the ACC Network.
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