Longwood University’s softball team is off to another strong start as it carries an 8-3 record into its first game of the Texas A&M Invitational on Friday.

The success has come thanks to players established and new. One of the new standouts is Alexis Wayland.

Wayland may be a freshman on the Longwood roster, but as evidenced by her three-hit day with three total RBIs on Monday, she didn’t play like a player who is less than one month into her Lancer playing career.

Longwood went 1-1 Monday in a doubleheader against the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), which was hosting the UNCG Invitational that began Sunday for the Lancers.

Wayland hit a home run in the first game of the day Monday, as Longwood’s six-game winning streak came to a close on a Delaney Cumbie walk-off blast to cap a 4-3 comeback win for the reigning Southern Conference champion Spartans.

In game two, the Longwood third baseman brought home a pair of runs in support of a complete-game shutout from senior ace Sydney Gay, as the Lancers took the nightcap 2-0 in the final game of the UNCG Invitational at UNCG Softball Stadium.

Gay’s shutout victory moves her into a fourth-place tie with Jennifer Potts on Longwood’s all-time career wins list with 64, as she earned her third win of the season in the effort. That effort highlighted a weekend that saw Longwood pitching allow six runs in four games and turn in a 1.59 ERA.

Leading the way offensively was Wayland, who finished Monday with a team-high three hits, adding a home run and a double to go with her three RBIs.

Lancers redshirt senior Chelsea Whitcomb earned a pair of walks in game one and added two hits in game two, as the Virginia Tech graduate transfer finished the day 3-for-3 in stolen bases. Whitcomb has reached in six straight games.

Longwood senior Kaylynn “Bug” Batten had a hit in both games while freshman Sydney Jacobsen collected her first career multi-hit game with a pair of singles to lead to runs in the second game.

On the heels of a pair of days that saw Longwood go 3-1, the Lancers will have three days to prepare for the Texas A&M Invitational where Longwood Head Coach Kathy Riley’s team will square off against Lamar, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and national powerhouse Texas A&M.