BATON ROUGE, La. – Longwood posted a pair of strong pitching performances in the circle, but LSU's pitching proved to be better.

No. 4 LSU posted a pair of shutout victories in Tuesday's doubleheader at Tiger Park over the Longwood softball team, with Sydney Smith throwing a five hit 4-0 shutout in the first game of the day and Baylee Corbello following with a two hit 1-0 shutout victory in the nightcap.

For the Lancers (9-7), Elizabeth McCarthy and Sydney Gay continue to perform at a high level, this time holding in check one of the nation's top lineups. In particular, McCarthy – coming off back-to-back Big South Player of the Week's – went 8.0 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits for the night.

"We did a couple of very nice things this evening in our doubleheader against LSU," said head coach Kathy Riley. "We pitched well all evening. I thought Kayla [Miller] and Bug [Kaylynn Batten] called two good games and the pitchers executed well. The other thing we did well was play very composed defense with runners on base."

The fourth-ranked Tigers (21-2) came into the night coming off seven straight games where they had scored five or more runs and ended five of those games in run-rule fashion. McCarthy and Gay – holding two of the top three ERA's in the Big South – limited the Tigers to fewer than five runs in consecutive games for the first time this season.

The Longwood pitching duo held in check a Tiger offense that ranked third in the NCAA with a .385 batting average and eighth in the NCAA with 8.43 runs per contest.

At the plate, Longwood's Glenn Walters extended her streak to 16 straight in games she has reached base safely, while she saw her nine game hit streak come to an end in the first game. Emily Murphy also posted a 2-for-3 night in the first game and reached base safely in the second game.

"We still have to find our team offense but I know these kids badly want to be a championship caliber team," Riley said

Longwood continues its road swing in the Bayou State, as it travels to No. 5 Louisiana-Lafayette for a single game Wednesday, March 9. That game is set to get underway at 7 p.m. ET., from Lamson Park in Lafayette, La., and will mark the third straight contest for the Lancers against top-five competition.  

No. 4 LSU 4, Longwood 0
Emily Griggs posted a 2-for-4  with a run scored and LSU starter Sydney Smith pitched a five hit shutout, as the Tigers won the opening game of the doubleheader, 4-0, over Longwood.

Smith tossed 7.0 scoreless innings, scattering five Longwood hits and allowing a walk. She also added eight strikeouts to her credit while throwing 108 pitches, 77 for strikes.

Longwood's Elizabeth McCarthy and Sydney Gay combined to allow just five LSU hits to the high-powered Tiger offense. It marked just the fourth game this season in which the Tigers failed to score at least five runs in a game.

McCarthy (5-3) suffered the loss, putting an end to her five-game win streak. She lasted 2-plus innings and gave up three runs on three hits, while walking four batters. She also added a pair of strikeouts to her credit.

Gay came on for McCarthy with the bases loaded and no out in the third inning. She minimized the damage to two runs and went 4.0 innings, scattering a pair of LSU hits, allowing one run and recording three strikeouts.

At the plate, Emily Murphy led the Lancers with a 2-for-3 performance with a pair of singles. Justina Augustine extended her hit streak to five straight games, while Karleigh Donovan and Jamie Barbour also notched a hit.

Constance Quinn got the scoring going for the Tigers in the bottom of the first inning, as she led off with a walk on eight pitches. She moved to second base on an illegal pitch, before moving to third base on a foul out from Emily Griggs. She was allowed to take home two batters later following McCarthy's second illegal pitch of the inning.

LSU loaded the bases with no out in the third inning, before Longwood relieved McCarthy for Gay. The freshman then issued a walk to Amber Serrett to bring in Griggs, before Kellsi Kloss recorded a sacrifice fly to bring home Sahvanna Jaquish.

The Tigers added a run in the fifth, as Bailey Landry doubled up the middle to score Bianka Bell, who led off the inning with a walk.

No. 4 LSU 1, Longwood 0
Elizabeth McCarthy held the potent Tiger offense to just one run or less for just the third time this season, as Longwood dropped the second game of the doubleheader, 1-0, to No. 4 LSU.

However, Baylee Corbello (5-0) was even better for the Tigers, going 6.2 innings and helping LSU picking up the shutout. She earned the win, allowing just three Longwood base hits on the night and two walks. For the game, she allowed just six baserunners, while striking out 11 Longwood batters.

McCarthy (5-4) matched Corbello pitch-for-pitch, allowing one run on five LSU hits and a pair of walks over 6.0 innings. She added two strikeouts.

McCarthy held in check a LSU offense that came into the night third in the NCAA with a .385 batting average and eighth in the nation in runs scored, averaging 8.43 runs per game. It marked just the third time this season that the Tigers have been held to one or fewer runs.

Glenn Walters extended her reached base streak to 16 straight games to open the season in the top of the first inning with a leadoff triple. However, she was stranded at third, after a popup and two strikeouts.

The Tigers scored the game's only run in the bottom of the inning. Quinn worked a leadoff walk on five pitches, before she came around to score later in the inning on an RBI double from Bell.

Then, the two starting pitchers took over.

McCarthy and Corbello combined to pitch three straight, three-up, three-down innings, before Longwood threatened in the fourth. Emily Murphy was hit by a pitch with one out in the inning, before Kaylynn Batten reached on a fielding error to put runners on first and second with one away. However, Corbello was able to get Adams to strike out swinging and Augustine to line back to the circle.

LSU threatened to add to its lead in the following half inning, loading the bases with one out in the inning. However, McCarthy got Simmons to ground to Sweeney who threw out the lead runner at the plate. McCarthy followed to get Quinn to fly out to right field.

After getting out of a two-on with no out jam in the sixth, Longwood came to the plate in the top of the seventh looking to extend the game. With two out, Kelsey Sweeney doubled to right field to give Longwood a runner in scoring position, before LSU brought on ace and first-team All-SEC Carley Hoover to the circle – fresh off a no-hitter in the Tiger's finale Sunday. She was brought in to face Walters and got the Longwood sophomore to groundout to third base to end the threat and the game.  

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