Farmville, Va. (February 27, 2026)--Mount St. Mary's opened the Bank of the James Invitational with an 8-0 setback against host Longwood on Friday afternoon.  The Lancers hit three home runs in the game to power to the win.

Baily Bucholz opened the scoring with a two-run homer off Mount starter Emmaleigh Zagrodnicheck in the bottom of the second.  Brooke Bennett hit a solo shot and Lauren Faulkner a three-run homer in a five-run thrid inning that pushed Longwood's lead to 7-0.  The Lancers added a single run in the fourth for the final run of the game.

Avery Dinges and Kelsie Bandelow each went 1-for-2 at the plate for the Mount with Bandelow provided a double for the Mount's only extra base hit of the contest.  Zagrodnicheck allowed four runs in 2.1 innings while Sophia Schmehl and Kaya Hannon also saw time in the circle.

The Mount has a pair of games tomorrow, facing Youngstown State at 10:00 a.m. and Penn at 8:00 p.m.