HONOLULU, HAWAI'I – Six shutout innings from Sydney Gay and a combined 4-of-7 day at the plate from Karleigh Donovan led the Longwood softball team to a doubleheader split Thursday night, as the squad opened play at the Texaco Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament.
 
Gay tossed six shutout innings in a combined shutout with freshman Arleigh Wood in Longwood's 6-0 win over UTEP, before Sydney Backstrom put together a strong pitching performance in the Lancers 2-0 setback in the nightcap against Hawai'i.
 
"We played two nice games today," said Longwood head coach Kathy Riley. "I'm really encouraged by the way we gave ourselves a chance to win this afternoon. We played pretty well in most phases of the game."
 
Donovan led the Lancers at the plate with a 4-of-7 performance across the two games, as she was one of four Lancers to collect multiple hits on the day. Donovan added two RBI and a run scored, while Jordan Clark belted her first home run of the season in her team-leading fifth multi-hit game of the season against UTEP.
 
In addition, Krista Kelly had three hits across the two games, highlighted by a pair of base hits against Hawai'i, while Destiny Martinez also added a pair of hits.
 
In the circle, Gay picked up her fourth win of the season in Longwood's 6-0 victory over UTEP, throwing six scoreless innings while combining with Wood for the shutout. Gay picked up a season-high seven strikeouts in the outing.
 
Backstrom followed that performance with a strong outing of her own, giving up two runs in six innings while adding three strikeouts.
 
Longwood returns to the field Friday, March 2 to take on East Carolina. First pitch is set for 9 p.m. ET.

"I can't wait to lace them up tomorrow and get after it again," Riley said.
 
Longwood 6, UTEP 0
 
Backed by six shutout innings from junior right-hander Sydney Gay and a pair of three-hit days from Jordan Clark and Karleigh Donovan, Longwood picked up a 6-0 victory over UTEP in its first game of the day in the Aloha Tournament.
 
Longwood strung together 10-plus hits for the fourth time in 11 games with Clark, Donovan and Destiny Martinez each collecting a multi-hit game to back six shutout innings of three-hit ball from Longwood righty Gay.
 
Gay's (4-2) six shutout innings aided her to her fourth win of the season, as she gave up three hits and three walks while striking out a season-high seven batters. The Carrollton, Va., product worked a pair of three-up, three-down innings while facing 24 batters.
 
Arleigh Wood came on to pitch the seventh inning for Gay and kept the shutout intact, giving up a hit and walk.
 
Clark led the way, belting her first home run of the season to finish with a pair of RBI and three runs scored. Donovan added a pair of RBI and a run scored in a 3-for-3 performance while Martinez was 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored.
 
For Clark, her three hits extended her hitting streak to seven games, as the 2017 second-team All-Big South honoree collected her fourth multi-hit game in her last six games.
 
Donovan put together her first multi-hit performance of the season, scattering three hits in a 3-for-4 performance that saw the two-time All-Big South honoree drive in a pair of runs and score a run.
 
Julia Wright (2-3) took the loss for UTEP, yielding four runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out one in two innings.
 
Kira McKechnie came on to relieve her, throwing 5.0 innings and giving up two runs on four hits and four walks while striking out a pair.
 
Hawai'i 2, Longwood 0
 
A complete-game shutout from Brittany Hitchcock led Hawai'i past the Longwood softball team 2-0 in the day's finale.
 
Hitchcock (4-3) allowed five hits and three walks in a complete game effort that saw her add a pair of strikeouts to pick up the win.
Hitchcock was aided by a second inning RBI double from Cheeks Ramos and a sixth inning solo home run from Nicole Lopez, as five different Rainbow Wahine (7-7) recorded hits in the game.
 
Longwood was led at the dish by Krista Kelly, who was 2-for-3, while Jenna Dunn added a double for the squad's lone extra-base hit of the game. In addition, Karleigh Donovan and Jessica Smith each collected hits.
 
Sydney Backstrom (3-3) took the hard-luck loss, going the distance in the circle. She gave up two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out three batters in 6.0 innings. 
 
#GoWood