2016 NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET

FARMVILLE, Va. – After winning the 2016 Big South Championship for the second straight season and the third time in four seasons Saturday afternoon in Rock Hill, S.C., the Longwood softball team earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Lancers (38-18) were selected as the No.3 seed into the Harrisonburg, Va., Regional Sunday and will open the NCAA Tournament against North Carolina Friday, May 20. It marks the first time in program history that Longwood has been named as the three seed in an NCAA Regional.
 
Friday's meeting between Longwood and the Tar Heels will mark a rematch from earlier this season, as North Carolina took that game 5-3 at Lancer Field.
 
James Madison is the No. 7 overall seed and will host an NCAA Regional for a second straight season. They will host Princeton, as the No. 4 seed in the region.
 
The Lancers earned their third NCAA berth in four seasons after capturing their second consecutive Big South Championship. It marks the third Longwood team to earn a bid into the NCAA Tournament in the Division I era, following the 2013 squad that finished the season with a school-record 41 wins and the 2015 squad that captured the school's first-ever win in the NCAA Tournament over Virginia Tech.

Kathy Riley, back-to-back Big South Coach of the Year, led the Lancers to the 12th 30+ win season in program history and the 19-year head coach has never had a season below the .500 mark in her tenure at Longwood.
 
The blue and white captured four straight victories while facing elimination in the Big South Championship and freshman phenom Sydney Gay won three of those games including a one-hit shutout in the championship game against Campbell. The Lancers beat second-seed Coastal Carolina in two straight games in the semifinal by a combined margin of 15-2. The squad posted a combined 20 runs in their final two games of the tournament against the Chanticleers and Camels.

Longwood also claimed its second straight Big South regular season championship led by the outstanding work in the circle from Gay and two-time Big South Pitcher of the Year Elizabeth McCarthy. The pair led a Longwood pitching staff that ranked among the top-20 in the nation with a 2.17 ERA and each eclipsed 160 strikeout mark, becoming the first pair of teammates to go over the 160 strikeout mark in program history.

En route to earning Big South Tournament MVP honors, Gay went 4-0 in five appearances, four starts, and didn't allow a single run in throughout. She struck out 24 batters in 24.2 innings and opponents hit just .131 off the rookie.
 
The senior trio of Carly Adams, Jamie Barbour and Emily Murphy will conclude their career in the NCAA Tournament, as they become the first class in program history to earn a bid to three NCAA Tournaments in four seasons. The trio, who were each named first-team all-conference, will leave Longwood as the winningest class in program history and is two wins shy of three 40-win seasons in four years.

NCAA Regional Schedule
Friday, May 20
Game 1 (2 p.m)  -  No. 2 North Carolina vs. No. 3 Longwood - 2 p.m.
Game 2 (4:30 p.m.) - No. 1 James Madison vs. No. 4 Princeton - 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 21
Game 3 - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 - 2 p.m.
Game 4 - Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 - 4:30 p.m.
Game 5 - Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 - 7 p.m.

Sunday, May 22 
Game 6 (2 p.m.) - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game - 2 p.m.
*if necessary Game 7 (4:30 p.m.)

 
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