Farmville, Va. – The Le Moyne College softball team will close out early season non-conference tournament play at the Longwood Spring Break Classic hosted by the Longwood Lancers in a five-game set this weekend, Friday-Sunday, Mar. 6-8.
The Dolphins will compete in five games at Bank of the James Park over the weekend, with one coming against the host Lancers and a pair of matchups each against Youngstown State and Lafayette.
The team will open the tournament on Friday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. against Youngstown State Penguins (7-9) before taking on Longwood (8-12) at 3:00 p.m. later that afternoon. Le Moyne will then take on Youngstown State one more time at 10:00 a.m. the following morning before meeting Lafayette (4-10) for the first time at 5:30 p.m. that night. The Dolphins will wrap up the tournament on Sunday with another matchup with the Leopards at 10:00 a.m..
Tournament Opponents:
Youngstown State opened the season with a 2-3 performance at the Gardner-Webb Tournament from Feb. 6-8, grabbing wins against the host Runnin' Bulldogs (16-6) and Furnam (8-3). They then came away with one win the following weekend at the Wings, Etc. USC Upstate Classic against West Georgia (9-7).
They then took part in last week's 2026 Bank of the James Invitational hosted by Longwood and went 3-2, taking down Pennsylvania (9-1 in five innings), Mount St. Mary's (11-6) and Hampton (9-1) before splitting a double-header with Hampton this past Tuesday, Mar. 3.
Through 16 team games, senior utility player/catcher Kennedy Dean leads all qualified Penguins with a 1.148 OPS in 45 at-bats, tallying 18 hits including six doubles and two homers, eight walks, 17 RBI, and 13 runs scored. She's added a pair of stolen bases to go along with a team-high .667 slugging percentage while starting in all 16 games.
Freshman pitcher Kennedy Kimball leads the rotation with a 3.27 ERA through three starts and three relief appearances with three complete games in 25.2 innings pitched.
Longwood kicked off their season at the 2026 NFCA DI Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Fla. on Opening Weekend last month. The Lancers went winless in games against PItt (4-0), Southeastern Louisiana (9-0 in five innings), Michigan State (4-1), Notre Dame (7-3), and Boston College (3-1) over the weekend.
The Lancers then went 1-2 in the 2026 Longwood Invitational the following week, nabbing their first win of the season over Toledo (5-4) before going 1-4 at the Florida Tournament from Feb. 20-22 earning a victory over Lindenwood, 8-6.
Most recently, Longwood hosted their 2026 Invitational and went 6-0 against Mount St. Mary's and Hampton twice and Youngstown State and Penn once each.
In 19 games played, sophomore catcher/infielder Brooke Bennett leads all qualified players with a .353/.431/.804 slash line in 51 at-bats. She has added 18 hits including three doubles, one triple, and six homers with six walks to register 17 RBI and seven runs scored for Longwood.
In the circle, senior pitcher Maggie Chapin has made 10 starts and another two appearances to the tune of a 3.44 ERA with eight complete games and two saves in 61.0 innings pitched.
Lafayette kicked off their season with an 0-5 showing at the Houston Invitational from Feb. 13-15 before earning their first win at the UNCW Home Weekend #2 over Georgetown (7-5) the following weekend.
Most recently, the Leopards went 3-2 at the Spring in the Springs tournament hosted by Gardner-Webb last weekend, earning two wins over North Dakota State, 7-6 and 8-6, and one against the 'Phins NEC rival New Haven (3-1).
Through 14 team games, sophomore infielder Carolina Hall has posted a team-high 1.018 OPS among all qualified hitters and sits second on the squad with a .364 batting average through 44 at-bats. She has recorded 16 hits including two doubles and three homers while adding three walks, seven RBI, and eight runs scored.
Senior pitcher Marisa Powell leads Lafayette with a 2.80 ERA through three starts and one relief appearance, registering a 1-1 record in 15.0 innings pitched this season.
Dolphins' Season:
Le Moyne holds a 1-11 record after a trio of early season tournaments in Clinton, S.C., Winthrop, S.C., and Newark, Del. to start the year.
The squad opened the season at the Blue Hose Invitational with losses at the hands of Dayton (7-3) and Presbyterian (2-1) on Feb. 6 before coming out on top against Morehead State, 19-16, the following day. They closed out the weekend with a five inning 10-1 loss against Western Michigan on Feb. 8.
The following weekend, the Dolphins traveled to compete in the Winthrop Garnet & Gold Tournament, and came away with losses against Robert Morris twice (12-4, 9-1), Winthrop (7-4), and Kent State (6-5).
This past weekend, the team took on Bryant and Delaware twice each at the Blue Hen Invitational and came away with four losses. Bryant took down the 'Phins, 19-11, in six innings in game one and 9-0 in five innings in game two while Delaware came away with 9-3 and 8-0 victories over Le Moyne.
Through 12 team games, junior outfielder Sydney Nesci (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) leads all qualified players with an .881 OPS in 31 at-bats, boasting a team-leading .462 on-base percentage and .419 slugging rate. Nesci has earned 10 hits including three doubles along with eight walks while driving in four runs and coming around to score seven times.
Senior infielder Audrey Benderski (Spring Lake Park, Minn./Spring Lake Park) sits just behind Nesci with an .859 OPS and sits second on the team with a .500 slugging percentage through 34 at-bats this season. Benderski leads the team with two homeruns through 12 games started and has added a pair of doubles and four walks while driving in seven runs and scoring eight times.
Benderski went 3-9 (.333) at the plate last weekend, registering one homer, three RBI, three runs, and two walks en route to being named an NEC Prime Performer on Tuesday, Mar. 3 along with sophomore corner infielder Cianna Benamati (Ballston Lake, N.Y./Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake). Benamati batted 3-8 (.375) at Delaware, adding one home run, three RBI, and two runs scored.
Junior DP Arianna Exarchakis (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) leads the 'Phins with eight RBI and nine walks this season while adding one homerun for a .233/.410/.333 slash line.
In the circle, sophomore Isabella Kwashek (West Deptford, N.J. / West Deptford) leads all Dolphins with a 7.00 ERA in four starts and three relief appearances in 16.0 innings pitched so far this season.
What's Next:
Le Moyne will open up NEC action on the road at LIU in a three-game set Saturday-Sunday, Mar. 14-15.
