The Radford softball team tallied eight runs on five hits and took advantage of two errors in the second inning, which propelled them to a 10-1 five inning victory in the series finale against Gardner-Webb on Sunday afternoon.
Hannah Medlam began the second inning with her fifth hit of the series, a single to left center field. She moved into scoring position after Rowe was plunked by the third pitch of the at-bat. Hunter Mundy hit a ball that was misplayed by Andria Booth, the Runnin’ Bulldogs right fielder, and went over her head. The double scored Medlam and put two runners in scoring position with no outs.
Brianna Mills drew a walk and loaded the bases. Rowe scored on the ensuing play as Marissa Yow hit into a fielder’s choice at shortstop. Rowe’s run gave Radford a 2-0 lead.
Consecutive singles from Lauren Maddrey and Marissa Gagliano scored Mundy and Yow creating a four run lead in favor of Radford. With Maddrey at second and Gagliano at first, another walk loaded the bases, only this time with one out in the inning.
Talia Douglas recorded the Highlanders fifth hit of the inning with a single to right field that plated two. However, an errant throw by Booth allowed Tapia to score from third and Douglas to move to second.
The inning continued as Jenna Wacaster misplayed a slow grounder and allowed Medlam, who was batting for the second time in the frame to reach safely. Douglas scampered to third on the play and scored the eighth run of the inning – and game – on a sacrifice fly from Rowe.
Gagliano and Tapia each drove in a run in the third inning, which gave Radford back-to-back games with double-digit runs scored and a 10-0 lead.
Abby Morrow (17-9) picked up another win and only allowed one hit through three innings. She struck out two and only faced 11 batters. She gave way to Kayla Huffman in the fourth inning, but Huffman ran into a little trouble.
The junior walked Katie Prebble to lead off the fourth and the Highlanders’ second error of the contest proved to be costly. Huffman got the perfect double play ball, but threw the ball just short of Gagliano, which put runners at first and second with no outs. Prebble moved to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on a groundout to Gagliano. The run scored cut the deficit to nine, 10-1.
Jessie Marvin took over in the fifth inning and gave up a single and a walk to begin the inning. She settled down and got three of the next four batters out, including a pop out to Medlam at second that clinched the series sweep.
Marissa Gagliano tallied her 13th multi-hit game of the season and her third multi-RBI game of the year. She went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Hannah Medlam also went 2-for-3 with a run scored. She totaled six hits in the series.
Seven of the nine RBIs came from different players as Gagliano had two along with freshman Talia Douglas.
Maddrey scored two runs in the finale thus totaling her runs scored over the weekend to five. The Highlanders tallied 31 runs on 32 hits as a team in the series against the Runnin’ Bulldogs.
The pitching staff held the nation’s top hitters in Katie Prebble and Andria Booth to a combined 4-for-14 with two runs scored, two RBIs and only one home run. The pitching staff as a whole allowed only two hits in the entire contest.
“It’s never easy to sweep a team, but it’s always a good feeling when it happens. I think we picked up right where we left off yesterday with our bats. We put up at least 30 hits in a three game series, which is astounding. We’re playing great ball at the right time of the season. We need to close out the final two weeks of the regular season on the right foot and take care of business,” said Radford Coach Hope Creasy.
–RU Athletics
