Wednesday was a perfect night for softball between rivals Radford University and Virginia Tech. Radford won 4-0.
Despite strong pitching that allowed only one earned run and an offense that strung together eight hits, Virginia Tech couldn’t get past Radford University as the Highlanders topped the Hokies, 4-0, in front of 373 at Tech Softball Park in the home opener.
Starter Carrie Eberle allowed only one hit and struck out six in five innings of work and freshman Jordan Dail fanned four in 2.0 innings of relief. Neither received much run support even though the Hokies (7-6) out-hit the Highlanders, 8-3. Junior Emma Strouth led the way as she registered her second multi-hit game of the season.
Eberle struck out the side in the top of the first and got out of a jam with two runners on in the second. Senior Jessie Mehr was Tech’s second base runner of the ball game after she singled to right field in the bottom of the second but she was left stranded.
The Hokies put runners on again in the third, fourth and fifth and it came back to haunt them. With the coaching staff looking to save Eberle for this weekend, they sent Dail out to the circle in the top of the sixth. The Highlanders took advantage of a costly error by Dail that allowed a runner to score all the way from first, giving them a 1-0 lead, and later extended their advantage to 2-0 on an RBI single.
The Highlanders then went on to post two more runs on a wild pitch and a passed ball that made it 4-0 in the top seventh, putting the game out of reach for the struggling Tech offense.
The Hokies return to action this weekend at the Jacksonville Invitational that runs from March 2-4.
–VT Athletics
