Longwood seniors Glenn Walters ’18 (left), a kinesiology major from Glen Allen, and Kelsey Sweeney ’18, a biology major from Menchville, are leading Longwood on a quest for a fourth-straight Big South title. Photo credit: Mike Kropf ’14
Coming off a third consecutive Big South Championship, with four championships in five seasons, the Longwood softball team was tabbed by Big South coaches to win a fourth consecutive title in 2018, according to the league’s preseason poll released in January.
The Lancers picked up five first-place votes in the poll voted on by the league’s eight head coaches. Longwood also earned two second-place votes and one third-place vote. The Lancers have been picked to finish first or second in each of the past four seasons. Since joining the Big South prior to the 2013 season, the team has never been pegged to finish lower than fourth place.
In just five seasons in the Big South, the Lancers, led by head coach Kathy Riley, have quickly established themselves as the dynasty of the conference. Since joining the conference, Longwood has the most overall wins (185), conference wins (85) and championships (4) of any school in the Big South.
Longwood began the season with a busy pre-conference schedule in 2018 with tournaments in Charleston, South Carolina; Wilmington, North Carolina; and Honolulu. Nonconference games include contests against Duke, Elon, UVA and Virginia Tech.
Leave a Comment