Courtesy of Longwood Athletics
Longwood 5, No. 25 NC State 1
Megan Baltzell hit two solo home runs and Longwood added two runs in the top of the sixth, as the Lancers picked up a 5-1 victory over 25th-ranked NC State.
The win over the Wolfpack marked the first win over a ranked foe for the Lancers since the blue and white earned a 4-1 victory over No. 25 Depaul on March 25, 2012. It also marks the first three-game win streak of the season for the Lancers.
“Probably the most impressive thing about the second game was that it was a real team effort,” Riley said. “We had good pitching, good defensive plays and some timely hitting. I thought we played some real good all-around softball.”
Baltzell led the Lancers at the plate, as the senior was 2-for-2 at the plate with two solo home runs and three runs scored. With the two blasts, Baltzell sits two homers shy of Longwood’s all-time homerun mark of 55 from Brooke Short.
McCarthy (4-5) picked up her second victory of the day, going 5.1 innings and giving up one earned run off three hits and three walks. The sophomore southpaw also struck out five batters.
“With Coach Riley calling pitches, we knew that facing NC State that we were going to have to move the ball around and do a lot of different things to get outs and mis-hit balls,” McCarthy said. “I went deep into counts because I was trying to mix up things and work different quadrants of the plate.”
Morris came on in relief of McCarthy and was able to get five big outs, going 1.2 innings and allowing just one hit while walking one batter. Morris also added a strikeout.
Courtney Mirabella (4-3) took the loss for the Wolfpack, pitching all seven innings and giving up five runs, including three earned, off five hits and two walks. Mirabella also struck out 12 Lancers which was two shy of her career-high of 14 strikeouts.
Baltzell launched her first homer of the game in the top of the first inning, sending a pitch to left field just over the outstretched glove of NC State left fielder Tyler Ross to give the Lancers the early 1-0 lead.
NC State (11-8) answered in the bottom half of the inning, as Meredith Burroghs launched her fourth home run of the season on a solo blast to right field. Following the homerun, NC State loaded the bases before Renada Davis flied out to Walters in center field and the freshman threw a strike to Baltzell to the plate to get NC State’s Hanna Yeager trying to score on a sacrifice fly to end the inning.
“I felt comfortable to make that throw to Megan,” Walters said. “It was good to see everyone cheering me on. It helped boost my confidence and just helps me know that I can do that on a regular basis.”
Baltzell added her second blast of the day in the top of the fourth inning, sending a pitch to left center field to regain a one run advantage for the Lancers.
Longwood added two insurance runs in the sixth inning. Emily Murphy walked to leadoff the inning, before NC State starter Courtney Mirabella intentionally walked Baltzell two batters later. Kilby came to the plate and placed a one out single into left field to score Murphy from second. The play brought Baltzell to third base and Sweeney brought her home one batter later with a sacrifice fly to center field.
Longwood added another run in the top of the seventh inning, as Murphy advanced to third on a ball hit to right field, but the hit brought home Krista Kelly to give the Lancers a 5-1 lead.
The first two batters reached base in the bottom of the seventh, as Morgan Tharrington led off the inning with a single to right field and advanced to second base off a walk to Alyssa Compton. Davis followed with a groundball to straight to Kilby, as she started a double play when she stepped on the bag at third and fired a strike to Kelsey Sweeney at first base to get Davis by a half step.
McCarthy – who replaced Morris in the circle with one out in the inning – struck out Van Dyken to end the game and give Longwood its third straight victory.
“It’s great to come out with a win over NC State,” McCarthy said. “It’s nice to prove to people what Longwood can do.”
