Softball Takes 8-Game Win Streak on the Road to Winthrop
Softball /
| Games 26-28: Longwood (12-13, 3-0 Big South) at Winthrop (14-14, 2-3 Big South) | |
| Dates & Times | Game 1 at Winthrop: March 27 • 1 p.m. Game 2 at Winthrop: March 27 • 3 p.m. Game 3 at Winthrop: March 28 • 1 p.m. |
| Location | Rock Hill, S.C. (Terry Field) |
| Game Notes | Longwood | Winthrop |
| Statistics | Longwood | Winthrop |
| Live Stats | Game 1: Live Stats Game 2: Live Stats Game 3: Live Stats |
The First Pitch
• On an eight-game winning streak that is their longest since 2018, the Lancers face Big South foe Winthrop in a three-game series Saturday and Sunday, March 27-28, in Rock Hill, S.C.
• The Lancers have won 19 consecutive Big South series dating back to the final month of the 2017 season. Longwood has won 10 of its past 11 games against Big South teams overall dating back to the end of 2019.
• Longwood came in at a Big South-best No. 71 in the first Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) report released by the NCAA this week. The Lancers are 38 spots ahead of the Big South's No. 2 team, Campbell, and 32nd among non-Power 5 teams.
• Longwood also received the No. 60 ranking in NCAA Strength of Schedule (SOS). The Lancers have faced four teams ranked among the NCAA's RPI top 50, including No. 9 Duke and No. 11 Liberty, and are also slated to face both No. 10 Virginia Tech and No. 15 James Madison later this season.
• All-Big South senior ace Sydney Backstrom is the reigning Big South Pitcher of the Week, her second such honor this season. Backstrom went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in last weekend's three-game sweep against Gardner-Webb and is on a streak of 22.2 innings without allowing an earned run.
• Longwood is under the leadership of first-year head coach Dr. Megan Brown, whose coaching career has included stints at Auburn, Boston College and Cal. She took over the Lancer program in August of 2020 following the retirement of 820-game winner and three-time Big South Coach of the Year Kathy Riley.
Last Time Out
• Extending their winning streak to eight straight, Longwood swept a Big South-opening three-game series against conference preseason No. 1 Gardner-Webb on the road in Boiling Springs, N.C.
• Senior ace Sydney Backstrom won two of those games, going the distance in games one and three en route to a 2-0 record, a 0.00 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 12.0 innings for the series.
• Lauren Taylor homered twice, drove in six runs and reached base in seven of her 10 plate appearances for the three-game set.
• The Lancers outscored Gardner-Webb 27-4 and outhit them 28-12 for the series.
By The Numbers
• During their eight-game winning streak, the Lancers have logged a 2.29 ERA, a .335 batting average and 7.5 runs per game.
• Longwood has put the leadoff batter on base in 22 of 49 innings during the eight-game winning streak, or 45 percent of the time.
• Senior ace Sydney Backstrom is 6-0 with a 1.18 ERA and four complete games over her past six appearances. Two of those performances have been shutouts — a one-hit shutout against Bucknell and a two-hit shutout against Gardner-Webb.
• Backstrom has allowed only 16 hits and five earned runs during that stretch and is holding opposing hitters to a .155 batting average.
• Backstrom's past three starts have all been complete games, giving her a Big South-leading 10 complete games this season.
• Following Backstrom's second Pitcher of the Week citation this past Monday, Longwood has earned a Big South weekly award for three consecutive weeks. Backstrom was also named Pitcher of the Week on March 8, while Nia Green earned BIg South Player of the Week honors on March 15.
• Center fielder Lauren Taylor has homered in three of her past five games, which are the first three homers of her collegiate career. She has driven in at least one run in five straight games, amassing nine RBI during that span.
• Catcher Alexis Wayland is on a nine-game hitting streak, which is Longwood's best since Jordan Clark had a 20-game tear in 2019. Wayland is hitting .387 (12-of-31) with three doubles, two homers, 10 RBI and 11 runs during that stretch.
• Newly minted leadoff batter Lauren Fox, who was promoted to that spot four games ago, is batting .500 with a .571 on base percentage over her past eight games. She has scored nine times, driven in three runs and is a perfect 6-for-6 stealing bases during that surge.
• Longwood is among the most efficient base-stealing teams in the nation, coming up safe in 39-of-45 attempts this season. The Lancers rank 18th nationally with 2.12 steals per game and are stealing at a 84.1 success rate.
• The Lancers have stolen a combined 28 bases over their past six games, including at least four in all three games of the Gardner-Webb series.
• Third baseman Mason Basdikis has stolen 21 consecutive bases without getting caught, dating back to the start of her freshman year.
• Of the 187 times Longwood batters have reached base safely this season, the Lancers have scored on 43.0 percent of those. That is the fourth-most efficient clip in the Big South trailing only league scoring leaders USC Upstate (55.6%) and Winthrop (43.2%), and Campbell (43.5%).
• Longwood has four of the Big South's top five run producers in Alexis Wayland (T-3rd, 17 RBI), Sydney Jacobsen (T-3rd, 17), Lauren Taylor (9th, 14) and Nia Green (T-10th, 13). Those three have combined to drive in 59.8 percent of Longwood's total runs.
• Taylor has driven in a run in five consecutive games and homered in three of those.
Quotable
"I'm very pleased with the way our team fought throughout the game. We had opportunities to settle and keep pushing through. It was good to see us come back and play a full seven innings of
Longwood softball."
— Longwood head coach Dr. Megan Brown after completing the three-game sweep over Gardner-Webb this past weekend
Series History
• Longwood and Winthrop meet for the 19th, 20th and 21st times in series history. The Lancers hold an 18-10 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to 2009.
• The last meeting between the teams was in the 2019 Big South Championship game, which Longwood won 3-2 in Buies Creek, N.C. That winner-take-all contest was set up by Winthrop's 4-3 win in the first championship bout between the teams, which forced the decisive "if" game later that same day.
• Longwood and Winthrop have combined to win 11 Big South Championships, including six of the past 13. Either Longwood or Liberty have played in seven of the past 13 Big South Championship games. The teams have played each other twice for the league crown during that span, with Longwood winning both times.
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March 26, 2021 at 07:33PM
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Softball Takes 8-Game Win Streak on the Road to Winthrop - Longwood Athletics
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