Leading Off
• Longwood completes its non-conference schedule with a Wednesday doublehead­er against East Carolina in Farmville. It marks the third straight season that the Lancers and Pirates have squared off on the softball diamond with the prior meet­ings being played in Greenville. 
• Wednesday's doubleheader continues a stretch of seven straight games the Lanc­ers have played at home.
• Senior Elizabeth McCarthy was named Big South Pitcher of the Week Monday after tossing 10 shutout innings over the weekend against Gardner-Webb, includ­ing a no-hitter Saturday. 
• Head coach Kathy Riley faces her alma mater in the doubleheader. Riley was a two-sport standout at East Carolina in both basketball and softball.

By The Numbers
• A season after winning its third Big South championship in a four year span, Long­wood looks to three-peat as the confer­ence regular season and tournament champions in 2017. 
• Longwood has assembled yet another difficult slate for the 2017 season. The Lancers will play 21 games against teams that finished last season among the top- 100 of the RPI rankings and 10 games against teams that advanced to the 2016 NCAA Regionals. Longwood's out-of-con­ference opponents amassed more than 600 wins a season ago and combined for a .579 win percentage. 
• For the second straight season, Long­wood was tabbed to win the Big South. Despite capturing three Big South Cham­pionships in its four previous seasons, the Lancers have only been tabbed to win the conference on one occasion. 
• Senior southpaw Elizabeth McCarthy earned back-to-back Big South Pitcher of the Year honors. McCarthy, along with sophomore sensation Sydney Gay, lead a Longwood pitching staff that ranked among the top-25 in the NCAA a season ago with a 2.29-team ERA. 
• Longwood returns seven players that have earned Big South accolades throughout their career, including Karleigh Donovan, Sydney Gay, Krista Kelly, Justina Augustine, Elizabeth McCarthy, Kelsey Sweeney and Glenn Walters. 
• Longwood softball head coach Kathy Riley enters her 20th season leading the program. Longwood's all-time winningest coach, Riley has amassed more than 600 wins at Longwood and picked up her 700th career victory earlier this season at the UNCG Invitational. 
• Senior Elizabeth McCarthy was named one of 30 candidates across the NCAA in Division I collegiate softball for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award, one of the most prestigious awards across collegiate ath­letics. 
• In her 23 seasons of coaching, Kathy Ri­ley has posted 21 consecutive seasons above the .500 mark. Her only two sea­sons below .500 were Riley's first two seasons at Mount Olive. 
• Longwood softball signed six standout student-athletes in the early signing peri­od, including Sydney Backstrom, Danielle Calloway, Mallory Odell, Leah Powell, Tay­lor Robinson and Arleigh Wood.

Last Time Out
• The Longwood softball team dropped two of three games in its weekend series against Presbyterian. The Lancers took the first game of the three-game set, before the Blue Hose took the second game and the rubber-game of the series. 
• It marks Longwood's first series loss to the Blue Hose at Lancer Field and just the sec­ond in the series history, as the Blue Hose took the 2014 matchup in Clinton, S.C. In addition, it marks the first season since Longwood joined the Big South that the Lancers have dropped three conference series. 
• Presbyterian southpaw Alex Cook threw a two-hit shutout, while shortstop Hope Rogers drove in three runs to lead the Blue Hose past the Longwood softball team 4-0 in the rubber-game Saturday afternoon at Lancer Field. 
• After retiring 15-of-16 batters in five in­nings during Friday's doubleheader, Cook received the start in the circle and contin­ued her dominant form, allowing just two base runners throughout Saturday's start. Cook gave up two hits and struck out three, as she threw 71 pitches, 47 for strikes.

Scouting the Pirates
• East Carolina comes to Farmville winners of four straight games and a 23-23 record in its second season under the tutelage of Courtney Oliver. 
• The Pirates have two hitters batting above the .300 mark, as Meredith Burroughs leads the way with a .317 average while Tate McClellan is hitting .303 with eight home runs and 33 RBI. 
• Lydia Ritchie has received the bulk of the innings in the circle, as she's 15-10 on the season with a 2.70 ERA and 113 strikeouts. 
• This season marks the third straight cam­paign that the Lancers and Pirates have met on the softball diamond with all of the other meetings taking place in Greenville.

#GoWood