BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. -- The
Longwood softball team travels to Gardner-Webb on Friday and Saturday to close the regular season with all three games slated for broadcast on ESPN+.
SHORT HOPS
▪ With one win this weekend, the Lancers are guaranteed a place in the Big South tournament at Cyrill Stadium Spartanburg, S.C., from May 6-9.
▪ Longwood leads the all-time series with the Runnin' Bulldogs since it began in 2000, 38-3. The Lancers have won the last five overall, including a three-game sweep in Farmville, Va., last season by a combined 31-13 tally.
▪ Longwood leads the Big South Conference and is 60th in the NCAA in strikeouts per seven innings as a team at 5.48 though games of April 22. Maggie Chapin leads the league individually and is 47th nationally in the category, averaging 7.6.
▪ Sophomore catcher Brooke Bennett is fifth in NCAA Division I and tops in the Big South Conference in throwing runners out from behind home plate. Isabella Smithson of Buffalo leads the country in the category with 19.
▪ Junior infielder Maggie Hiatt leads the conference in walks drawn in Big South games with 12. She is two free passes ahead of Winthrop's Rebecca Amos, Presbyterian's Baxleigh Arnette and Radford's Abby Bossler, who are tied for second in the league.
BY THE NUMBERS
5 ▪ Longwood played five teams that advanced to the 2025 NCAA tournament in Southeastern Louisiana, Virginia, Virginia Tech, USC Upstate and Florida.
18 ▪ Longwood beat Mount St. Mary's, 18-10, in five innings, on March 1. It was the most runs the Lancers scored since a 20-4 defeat of St. Francis (Pa.) on Feb. 21, 2013.
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 conferences in her time at Longwood.
4 ▪ Lauren Faulkner scored four runs in the March 23 win at N.C. Central. It was the first time a Lancer did it since Megan Baltzell (March 28, 2015 vs Presbyterian).
CHAPIN NO-HITTER
Senior right-hander Maggie Chapin fired her first career no-hitter as the Lancers beat USC Upstate, 10-1, in five innings March 29. Chapin struck out five, walked four and hit one batter, using 100 pitches for the Lancers' first no-hitter since Sydney Backstrom did it to Gardner-Webb, 7-0, on May 1, 2022 in Farmville. Chapin kept USC Upstate off balance all day, setting the Spartans down in order in the first and third innings.
Longwood has recorded 12 seven-inning no-hitters in program history.
CHAPIN IN NCAA RANKINGS
Longwood right-handed pitcher Maggie Chapin ranks eighth in NCAA Division I with 17 complete games. Chapin is also 11th in the country in innings pitched (158), 12th in strikeouts (172) and 66th in wins (13) through games of April 22.
IN THE ANNALS
Maggie Chapin is currently fifth all-time at Longwood in career strikeouts with 460. She is now ninth all-time for strikeouts in a single season at Longwood with 172, after passing Sydney Gay's totals from 2018 and 2017 at 171 and 147, respectively, as well as Briana Wells' 154 in 2010.
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 is first softball player at Longwood enshrined in the hall of fame.
CHAPIN AMONG ACTIVE CAREER NCAA LEADERS
Senior right-hander Maggie Chapin currently ranks among the NCAA's active career leaders in several statistical categories through games of April 22. She is 14th in all of the NCAA in games started with 92, while being 14th in Division I. She is 28th in career innings pitched at 534 1/3 in all Divisions and 26th in Division I. Chapin is 27th in the country in all Divisions in pitching appearances at 123 and 26th in Division I. She is also 50th overall in strikeouts per seven innings at 6.03 while ranking 35th in the category in Division I. Finally, she is 37th in career strikeouts at 460 in all Divisions and 28th in Division I.
LAYING THEM DOWN
Longwood ranks 16th in the NCAA and leads the Big South Conference in sacrifice bunts with 36. Fairfield leads the country in the category with 56. Sophia Pisacano is 15th in the country in sac bunts per game at 0.26, which also leads the Big South. Sarah Terrell ranks 106th nationally and is second in the conference at 0.15.
WE LIKE FREE BASES
Longwood ranks 54th in the NCAA in walks drawn this season with 172 in 50 games. Penn State leads the category with 248 walks.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Head coach Dr. Megan Brown moved alone into second place on the all-time wins list at Longwood with the Feb. 27 five-inning 10-1 victory over Youngstown State, passing Loretta Coughlin. Brown now has 152 wins in five-plus seasons with the Lancers.
