Longwood's softball team went on the road this past weekend for the Citrus Classic, traveling down to Orlando, Fla. Four games awaited them as they looked to capitalize on a four-game winning streak, their last loss being on Feb. 22 to North Carolina. Leaving the cooler temperatures of Farmville, the Lancers made their way into a warmer climate for the Citrus Classic, finding themselves up against five tough teams: Ohio State, Fordham, George¬town, Purdue and North Caroline State. The Lancers fell behind early, facing Ohio State in the first round of play. Scoring four runs in the first, two runs in the second and four more runs in the third, the Buckeyes jumped out to a large lead off two homeruns and nine hits. Ohio State added two more runs in the fourth to give them 12 runs within the first four innings of play. Though the Lancers would tack on three runs of their own in the fifth inning, they would soon after fall to the Buckeyes by a final of 12-3.
Freshman Megan Baltzell (Stafford, Va.) supplied a hit and two RBI for Longwood in the loss, while senior Brittany Latka (Purcellville, Va.) added an¬other RBI. Their first loss in the last five games, the Lancers looked to redeem themselves against both Georgetown and Fordham on Saturday. The second day of the Citrus Classic did prove to be better than the first, as the Lancers split two games, losing to Fordham but defeating George¬town later that evening. Against Fordham early Saturday afternoon, Longwood would find itself trailing early again, giving up four runs in the first inning of play. Holding Fordham till the sev¬enth, senior Courtney Long (Mechanicsville, Va.) added a run in the fifth for the Lancers off an RBI double from Baltzell. Unfortunately, this would be the only run they would score as Fordham made it home once more in the seventh, winning by three, 4-1. Junior pitcher Brooke Short (Hurt, Va.) pitched all seven innings, only allowing a total of five hits.
Losing two in a row, the Lancers now found themselves up against Georgetown University of the Big East Conference. Trailing by two, the Lanc¬ers struck back with three runs of their own in the fifth as Long cashed in on Baltzell's second double of the day. Now leading 3-2, Longwood found one more run in the sixth, as Casey Lifsey (Portsmouth, Va.) scored off a two-out single from sophomore Leta Bressing (Gloucester, Va). Georgetown scored one more in the seventh to cut Longwood's lead to one, but it would not be enough. Ending a two-game losing streak, the Lancers ended their Satur¬day with a close win over Georgetown, 4-3.
Their last day amongst the palm trees, Longwood faced two more teams, Purdue and North Carolina State. Against Purdue, seniors Leigh Sexton (Suf¬folk, Va.) and Ashley Kramer (Ashburn, Va.) were two of only three Lancers to get a hit, while the Boilermakers scored eight runs within the first four innings of play. Leaving all runners left on base, the Lancers fell behind early, losing 8-0. It was only their third shutout loss of the season thus far.
Longwood would not be able to prevent a fourth Citrus Classic loss in their fifth and final game against North Caroline State. Contrary to their pre¬vious games, the Lancers struck first against NC State as freshman Kori Nishitomi (Kaneohe, Ha¬waii) crossed the plate first, scoring off a fielding error. Long followed suit, scoring whilst sopho¬more Marci Christian stole second base, giving the Lancers an early 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, following a Latka single and a Long sacrifice bunt to move her to second, Baltzell struck her third double of the tournament, scoring Latka and giv¬ing Longwood a 3-0 advantage. Sadly, the lead would not last. NC State hit a three-run homerun in the fourth to tie the game at 3-3 before scoring one in the seventh to defeat the Lancers 4-3. Junior pitcher Ashley Cornell (Ports¬mouth, Va.) saw her first loss of the season, allow¬ing eight hits and three earned runs. The Longwood softball team (12-7) continues their season in Farmville this weekend against North Carolina Central University and Bingham¬ton University in a double
