CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The
Longwood softball team opens its 46th softball season this weekend at the 23rd NFCA DI Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Fla., against Pittsbugh, Southern Louisiana, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Boston College.
SHORT HOPS
▪ This is the Lancers' first appearance in the NFCA DI Leadoff Classic. Longwood is 2-4 all-time against its opening-weekend competition with wins over both Michigan State and Notre Dame. The Lancers topped the Spartans, 5-2, on March 1, 2008 in Athens, Ga., and the Fighting Irish, 2-0, on March 4, 2011 in Orlando.
▪ Southeastern Louisiana is the only one of Longwood's opponents in the field to advance to the NCAA tournament a season ago. The Lady Lions were 50-16 overall and won the 2025 Southland Conference championship, advancing to the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
▪ The Lancers return 15 players from 2025 and have added seven newcomers, including five freshmen and two transfers. Five of the seven-player pitching staff from last season are back in 2026, while eight position players are also back for head coach Dr. Megan Brown's sixth season at the helm.
▪ Longwood will host three in-season tournaments as part of its 54-game slate. The Lancers welcome Toledo and Virginia for the Longwood Invitational next weekend. It will be the first time since the 2019 season Longwood is the sole host of a regular-season tournament.
BY THE NUMBERS
5 ▪
Longwood will play five teams that advanced to the 2025 NCAA tournament, including Southeastern Louisiana, Virginia, Virginia Tech, USC Upstate and Florida.
7 ▪
Two Longwood sophomores –
Brooke Bennett and
Sarah Terrell – enter the season with seven-game reached-base streaks, the longest of the returners on the roster.
49 ▪
Longwood senior right-hander
Maggie Chapin finished the 2025 season 49th in the country in strikeouts per seven innings, averaging 7.5. The figure led the Big South.
6 ▪Head coach
Dr. Megan Brown has six wins against teams that were either ranked at the time or are part of the Power 4 confences in her time at Longwood.
20 ▪ Longwood has played to a 578-408 (.586) record since becoming Division I eligible for the 2007 season. The Lancers are in their 20th season in Division I in 2026.
LANCERS PICKED THIRD IN BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLL
Longwood was selected to finish third in the 2026 Big South preseason poll, the league announced on Jan. 21.
The Lancers received one first-place vote and 30 points in the voting. Radford headed the poll with five first-place votes and 47 points, while USC Upstate was second with the remaining first-place nod and 41 points.
Rounding out the poll was Winthrop in fourth with 29 points, Charleston Southern in fifth with 23, Gardner-Webb in sixth with 14 and Presbyterian with 12.
CHAPIN, KNOCK NAMED PRESEASON ALL-BIG SOUTH
Seniors Maggie Chapin and Sophia Knock were also selected to the preseason all-Big South team.
Chapin went 9-13 with a 4.51 ERA in 107 innings and 26 games in the circle in 2025. Knock batted .226 in 53 games with 10 doubles, six home runs and 20 RBIs. Both have earned all-Big South honors with Knock being named preseason Player of the Year prior to the 2025 season.
It marks the second straight season both players were named to the preseason all-Big South team.
BALTZELL TO THE HALL
Arguably the top offensive player in the history of Longwood softball, Megan Baltzell was announced as part of the six-member 2025 Longwood Athletics Hall of Fame class on Oct. 7. Baltzell's name is synonymous with excellence in the Longwood softball program, and the two-time Big South Player of the Year is a member of the Big South All-Decade Team. She was an NFCA Second Team All-American in 2013, and her named is littered throughout the Longwood softball record books. She was a three-time All-Big South First Team selection in her three years in the Big South, as well. She was also recently named to D1Softball.com's All-Quarter Century Team in the non-Power 4 power hitter category.
A prodigious power hitter, Baltzell's 76 home runs are the most in program history, and she also sits first in hits, RBIs, runs scored, doubles, walks, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. She also holds the top- two spots for home runs in a season (30 in 2013, 27 in 2015), RBIs (78 in 2013, 72 in 2015), and walks (66 in 2015, 44 in 2014).
Baltzell, a 2015 Longwood graduate, helped the Lancers win their first two Big South titles, in 2013 and 2015, and she earned NFCA All-Region honors three times (first team in 2013, second team in 2014 and 2015).
She will be the first softball player at Longwood enshrined in the hall of fame.
SCHOOL-RECORD 17
School-record 17 Longwood players were named 2024-25 Easton/NFCA All-America Scholars.
To be selected as an Easton/NFCA Scholar-Athlete, student-athletes must achieve a 3.5-or-better overall GPA on a 4.0 scale for the school year and this year's selections brings the Lancers' all-time NFCA Scholar Athlete total to 58.
Right-handed pitcher Er'ron Burton and designated player Maryanna Guy both posted perfect 4.0 GPAs.
Also earning selections this season as were: Brooke Bennett (3.969), Maggie Chapin (3.934), Maggie Hiatt (3.923), Avery Miller (3.862), Naleya Bridges (3.852), Kate Westmiller (3.834), Sarah Terrell (3.8), Sophia Pisacano (3.8), Peyton Simmons (3.693), Bailey Bucholz (3.679), Mallory Sanders (3.643), Erin Kirkland (3.625), Avery Drake (3.531), Cierra Gawryluk (3.53) and Sadie Armstrong (3.515).
BIG SOUTH DOMINANCE
Since joining the Big South Conference in 2013, Longwood has emerged as one of the league's premier teams. Under former head coach Kathy Riley, who retired following the 2020 season, the Lancers won five of seven Big South titles, in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019.
