May 7, 2011

Box Score: East Carolina 10, Longwood 1
Box Score: Longwood 7, UMBC 4

FARMVILLE, Va. - The Longwood University softball team split a pair of games on Saturday afternoon at Lancer Field in Farmville, defeating the University of Maryland-Baltimore County of the America East Conference 7-4 after falling to East Carolina University of Conference USA 10-1 in the first game. Senior Brittany Matthews|Farmville (Prince Edward) and sophomore Jordan Cox|Springfield (Robert E. Lee) each drove in two runs with one home run against the Retrievers (25-23), the first career home run for Matthews. The Lancers (33-12) return to action on Sunday, May 8, when they host ECU (36-19) for a single game at 1 p.m. at Lancer Field in Farmville. It is the final home game of the season for Longwood and admission is free.

The Lancers struck early against UMBC when they scored a pair of runs on a two-out home run to left-center field by Cox (1-2). Longwood added three more runs in the third inning, the first two on a RBI single by junior Ashley Kramer|Ashburn (Broad Run) (2-3) that scored senior Maggie Margadonna|Sea Girt, N.J. (Wall Township) (2-4) and freshman Leta Bressin|Gloucester (Gloucester). Kramer advanced to third on that play and scored on a sacrifice bunt by senior Tricia Nelson|Plainfield, Ill. (Plainfield Central) (0-1). UMBC scored three runs on one hit in the fifth inning, including a two-run home run by Julia Culotta (1-4). The Retrievers added one more run in the sixth inning to cut the Longwood lead to 5-4. In the sixth inning, junior Courtney Long|Mechanicsville (Hanover) (1-3) singled, then Matthews (1-3) hit a home run to left field to extend the Lancers' lead to 7-4.

Senior Briana Wells|Romoland, Calif. (Paloma Valley) (30-12, 2.41 ERA) earned the victory after giving up four runs on four hits with five strikeouts in seven innings. Stephanie Weigman (16-13) received the loss after giving up seven runs, five earned, on eight hits in six innings.

East Carolina jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after scoring a pair of runs on one hit and one Longwood error in the first inning. The Pirates added one more run in the third inning before the Lancers cut the lead to 4-1 in the fifth inning. Long (1-2) doubled to left field, then advanced to third on an infield single by Kami Nuckols|Glen Allen (Patrick Henry) (2-2). Bressin ran for Long and scored on a groundout by senior Nichole Simmons|Chesapeake (Hickory) (1-4). ECU scored five runs on five hits in the sixth inning and added two runs in the seventh inning to win 10-1.

Wells received the loss after giving up eight runs, seven earned, on eight hits with five walks and five strikeouts. Toni Paisley (27-10) earned the victory after giving up one run on five hits with six strikeouts.