Returning from a 37-13 record last season, the Longwood softball team opened their 2012 season this past weekend. Traveling to Atlanta for the Georgia State Classic tournament, the team's success wasn't necessarily a guarantee.
Losing six starting seniors isn't necessarily an easy fix, but head coach Kathy Riley seemed excited and optimistic about new players and even those stepping up to starting positions. Riley recently added two girls to the lineup, Megan Baltzell, a catcher and left-handed batter, and Chelsea Sciacca, an outfielder and left-handed hitter.
Baltzell led her Mountain View High School team in batting average, homeruns and RBIs as a senior while at La Abra High School. Sciacca led her team in batting average, RBIs and stolen bases. With 10 returning players to their lineup, the Lancers proved ready to play.
On Saturday, Feb. 11, the Lancers took the field against Western Carolina. Latka would contribute an RBI to give the Lancers a 3-1 lead early on. The Lancers would score four more runs in the second inning as Kori Nishitomi recorded an RBI, and Cox walked in a run with the bases loaded, which then led to two more unearned runs.
Western Carolina would then rally, scoring eight unanswered runs, putting the Cataracts in the lead 10-7 by the fifth inning. Shutting down Carolina's defense for the remainder of the game, Longwood would make a late-game comeback, scoring four more runs.
With an RBI from sophomore Leta Bressin in the fifth inning, Brooke Short and Cox supplied two back to back home-runs in the sixth to tie the game up at 10-10, with one inning remaining.
Then, preventing the Cataracts from scoring in the top of the seventh, the Lancers were given one more chance to take the lead and get the win.
In her first collegiate game, Baltzell blasted a lead-off home-run to not only give her team the 11-10 win, but give herself a memorable start to her career as a Lancer. Freshman pitcher Libby Morris would receive a complete game win, recording six strikeouts.
The Lancers took on Georgia State, the host of the tournament, in their next showing. Nishitomi provided her team with an RBI while Cox hit yet another home-run to give Longwood a 2-0 lead through five innings. That being said, Georgia scored three runs in the sixth inning to give them the lead and the win, LU's first loss of the season. Freshman Katie Shinrock would add two hits to a total of only four scored by the Lancers the entire game while pitchers Morris and Ashley Cornell allowed only three earned runs, recording a total of five strikeouts.
On the second day of play, the Lancers would close out the tournament with a win against both Georgia State and defending Classic champions, East Tennessee. In their first game against the Cataracts, Longwood would take a 2-0 lead in the second inning, courtesy of Shinrock's RBI single. After hitting a double and a wild pitch by Georgia, senior Courtney Long scored as well, putting the team up by three. Scoring one in the third, the Panthers would cut the lead to 3-1 right before Marci Christian's two-run, two-out home-run to again give them a three run advantage.
LU would then gain the upper hand in the fourth, scoring seven runs with a Baltzell triple and a Nishitomi RBI double. This was all LU needed to avenge their loss to Georgia State the previous day and win the game 11-6. In the final championship game against East Tennessee, LU only had to score one run in the first inning and two runs in the third to win the game and claim the Georgia State Classic title. Short provided an RBI double in the first and an RBI in the third, while Christian added an RBI grounder.
Morris would earn the win, recording four strikeouts and only allowing three hits through four innings. Brooke Short would toss three shutout innings, allowing only two hits and recording her first collegiate save.LU plans to continue their three-game winning streak this weekend, playing four home games. Their first game is scheduled to begin Feb. 17 vs. UMBC at 2:30 p.m.
