CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – After a huge home weekend for Longwood, they take the road win over the highly looked at ACC competitor Virginia 5-2.
"When we have wins, they compliment each other," said Head Coach Megan Brown after the huge win. "We continue to point out the things that they are doing really well, like hitting throughout the lineup, timely hitting, just really working together as a team, recovering quickly if we have a miscue, and just playing our brand of softball."
A hot start from the Lancers (13-18, 6-3 Big South) put them on the board first over the Hoos (21-13, 8-1 ACC).
Sydney Guess picked up where she left off with her walk off single on Sunday, grabbing a double to center field in the top of the first. Kayley Devivi on deck, knocked a dinger over the fence, marking her second home run of the season for the two run homer giving the Lancers the lead 2-0.
"Considering I saw her [Devivi] drop about 15 yesterday in batting practice, I was like, 'Yeah, good job bringing that into the game,'" Brown said with a laugh. "Kayley's been putting a lot of time into her hitting and seeing the fruits of that on the field. She's worked really hard on some very specific things, and when players do that, they see really great results. And I'm proud of her work and her dedication to it."
"I've always been a person to apply pressure to myself because I always want to perform well. Recently, I've been going out there and trusting my ability to play and let it all out on the field," said Kayley Devivi after the double-sided star performance on the field. "I had a feeling, but if I don't sprint and it drops, then I'm really not going to be in a good situation. It definitely felt good off the bat. I'm more of a back side power hitter. It just felt great. It felt amazing. It's always fun to be able to perform and help my team in the best way I can."
Ace
Sydney Backstrom (10-9) grabbed her 18
th start of the season and 10
th victory. Backstrom threw eight strikeouts, keeping the first four innings of the game hitless against the tough ACC opponent. The super senior allowed only three hits on the 34 batters she faced.
Top of the fifth Longwood saw more offensive action. Working the Cav's pitchers, they saw two pitching changes by the visiting side of the fifth. Senior
Mason Basdikis led off, and roped one down the right field line reaching third on her first hit of the game. Basdikis in scoring position, it was center fielder
Lauren Fox who continued the rally with a single up the middle scoring Basdikis.
The hot bats continued in the top of the fifth with
Alexis Wayland. A déjà vu moment for the senior, Wayland hit one up the middle with two on, scoring Co-Freshman of the Week in the Big South
Jaden Pone and Fox.
"Personally think that we have such a strong connection outside of softball, and we've just been waiting for it to all click on the field, and it's finally coming together," said Devivi. "The offense is finally starting to put runs up for our pitchers to feel comfortable, and I think that's a big thing in the game."
Virginia showed some life in the fifth when an error by Longwood that helped Katie Goldberg reach, pushing Arizona Ritchie across the plate giving the Cavs one of its two runs earned off of errors. The Hoos have put together one of its best starts in conference play in school history, but it wasn't enough to halt the momentum of Longwood's bats.
"We talk about making good plays and big plays in the big moment, not playing careful," said Head Coach Brown. "Attacking the game - that's one of the ways we talk a lot about it is that we're going to attack pitches and we're going to attack plays. That's how we train. She did what she practices, so she did well."
With a four run lead going into the bottom of the seventh, it was enough for the Lancers to advance its winning streak to four. Ahead this weekend, Longwood has another three game conference series at Hampton University.
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