Game Two Box

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RADFORD, Va. – After No. 3 Liberty forced a decisive title game, top-seeded Radford cruised to its first Big South Championship in school history with a 10-1 six-inning victory over the Flames Saturday evening at the RU Softball Field.

With the triumph, the Highlanders earn the league's automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Softball Tournament. Radford will find out were it is headed tomorrow night, May 10 at 10:00 p.m. The selection show will be on ESPNU.

Highlighted by tournament MVP Kristen Shifflett's (Charlottesville, Va./Monticello) 4-for-4 outing, which included her school-record 13th long ball of the season, Sarah Himan (Woodbridge, Va. / Hylton ) and Michelle Beall (Culpeper, Va. / Culpeper County) also belted home runs and added three RBI each for the Highlanders.

“I told the team that they needed to step up in the second game and we did that,” said Big South Coach of the Year Mickey Dean. “Everyone played their roles and it paid off. I could not be any prouder of this team. They put in a lot of hard work all season and were rewarded in the end with a championship.”

Chelsea Kelley (Roanoke, Va. / Cave Spring), the 2009 Big South Pitcher of the Year, bounced back from a game one setback to scatter five hits over six innings to record her 24th victory of the season, while striking out a pair of Flames.

Kelley, Shifflett, senior Jenn Everhart (Purcellville, Va./Loudoun Valley) and freshman Leigh Godfrey (Perth, Australia/Seton Catholic College) were named to the all-tournament team.

“This is four years of hard work and dedication that has finally paid off,” commented Everhart while holding on tightly to the championship trophy. “This is what our team has dreamed of and its feels amazing!”

The Highlanders did not waste time in game two, using small ball to take a 4-0 lead in the first. Radford bunted the ball four times, including two successful squeezes by Himan and freshman Nichole Beall (Culpeper, Va./Culpeper County), to go up 2-0. Michelle Beall and sophomore Shannon Keefe (Lemont Township, Ill./Lemont) knocked in the next two runs with back-to-back RBI singles.

Shifflett made it 5-0 in the bottom of the second, crushing her home run to the intramural field in left.

Kelley got of a second and third one-out jam in the fifth striking out Jenna Eatmon and getting pinch hitter Ashley Bensinger to pop up to second. In the bottom half, Michelle Beall hit a two-run home run to centerfield pushing Radford's lead to 7-0.

After Liberty scored its first run of the game on a RBI single Keely McMillon in the sixth, Himan closed out the game with a walk-off two-run home run to left in the bottom half of the inning.

Michelle Beall was 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored for the Highlanders. Nichole Beall also scored a pair of runs and Godfrey added two base hits.

McMillon and four other Lady Flames recorded a hit. Eatmon registered the lone extra-base hit with a double.

Sarah Ellis suffered the defeat, allowing four runs, two earned, in just a third of an inning. Tiffani Smith came in and tossed five innings, allowing six runs on nine hits with three strikeouts.

Game One Box

A four-run first highlighted by a pair of two-run home runs and four strong innings of relief from Tiffani Smith carried Liberty to a 5-3 victory in the first championship game, forcing the if necessary contest.

Beth Bennett and Amber DePasquale hit those home runs to spark the four-run first inning for the Lady Flames. Bennett's high fly ball drifted down the left fiield line was ruled a home run after hitting the bottom of the foul pole. Two batters later, DePasquale launched her bomb deep to left center.

The Highlanders cut the Lady Flames' lead in half on a two-run two-out single by Nichole Beall in the third.

After the Highlanders scored those two runs, Smith came in and allowed just a seventh inning single and struck out two to pick up the win. She allowed a run and walked two, improving to 12-12.

Eatmon gave Liberty a 5-2 lead with a solo shot to left center in the fifth.

The Highlanders tried to rally in the seventh getting one run on a sac fly by Shifflett, but Smith bore down and recorded the final two outs to preserve the win.

Radford was given a chance to get back into the game because of a solid relief effort by sophomore Kellie Snooks (Alsip, Ill/Marist). She allowed just a run on four hits with a strikeout in 6.1 innings of work.