FARMVILLE, Va. – Transfers Jillian Brunton and Brooke Masingale have signed to play for the Longwood softball team beginning in the fall of 2025, head coach Dr. Megan Brown announced on Friday.
"It is with great excitement that we announce the addition of Jillian and Brooke to the Longwood softball family," Brown said. From the very beginning, they showed the grit and tenacity for the game that is a hallmark of our program. We look forward to welcoming them to campus this fall."
Jillian Brunton
5-7 • UTL
Edinburg, Va./Western Alamance/Louisburg College
Brunton comes to Longwood from Louisburg College where she helped the Hurricanes to a pair of NJCAA Region X championships in 2024 and 2025. Louisburg advanced to the NJCAA World Series quarterfinals her freshman season.
Brunton batted .327 with 36 hits, 16 home runs and 42 RBIs as freshman, slugging .855 and posting an .472 on-base percentage. Brunton followed that with a .366 batting average with 56, nine homers and 50 RBIs as a sophomore. She slugged .667 and got on base at a .464 clip.
Brunton played three seasons of high school softball, first at Kettle Run High School in Virginia in 2021, then at Western Alamance High School in North Carolina in 2022-23. She twice earned all-state and all-district honors, helping Western Alamance to a runner-up finish in the 2023 North Carolina 3A Championship while batting .390 with a .489 on-base percentage. Brunton was 2023 state championship Player of the Game, going 4-for-4 with two homers, including a walk-off bomb.
Brunton earned her associate's degree from Louisburg in May, graduating summa cum laude. She claimed the 2025 Robert Butler Award as the student with the highest leadership impact within the School of Social & Behavioral Sciences. Brunton was also named the recipient of the 2025 Isaac Dean Moon Award as the most outstanding female graduate in leadership, scholarship and citizenship and winner of the Allen P. Brantly Award, given to the graduate with the highest GPA.
Brunton, whose cousins Justin and Jeff Gates played men's soccer for the Lancers, plans to major in business administration at Longwood.
Brooke Masingale
5-5 • C/OF
Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield/East Carolina
Masingale arrives at Longwood after spending the 2025 season at East Carolina in the American Athletic Conference. In 25 games with the Pirates, she blasted two home runs in five at-bats. She had a solo shot against Lafayette on March 2 and a two-run blast versus North Carolina Central on March 18.
A five-sport athlete at Wakefield High School in softball, volleyball, basketball, track and flag football, Masingale was named the NAC-6 Player of the Year as a senior in softball. She led Wakefield to a NAC title with a .455 batting average, 25 RBIs and eight home runs as a junior in 2023, also earning the NAC 6 Golden Glove Award and Silver Slugger Award that season.
Masingale was named to the all-conference, all-district and all-state teams in 2023 while listed on HighSchool OT's 2023 Preseason Watch List.
She belted 10 home runs to garner all-conference, all-district and all-state recognition, helping the Wolverines to a conference championship as a sophomore. Masingale hit four home runs with a .469 on-base percentage to earn a spot on the all-conference, all-district and all-state teams as freshman, as well.
Masingale holds career records for batting average (.449), hits (123) and home runs (31) at Wakefield.
