Game Notes

Softball Spotlight Week 2

RADFORD, Va. -- Radford softball heads down to Florida for a pair of tournaments and a total of 12 games over a 10-day period. The spring break trip begins on Friday, March 5 with the three-day Under Armour Invitational at the Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater, Fla.

Tournament Central

Coming off a 1-4 start to the season at the NFCA Leadoff Classic, Radford looks to rebound at the tournament with contests against UAB, Toledo, St. Joseph's, Villanova and Central Michigan.

The Highlanders begin play on Friday with a pair of contest against the Dragons and Rockets at 9:30 am and 1:30 pm.

On Saturday Radford will play under the lights, squaring off against the Hawks and Wildcats at 5 and 7 pm.

Tournament play wraps up on Sunday with a single game against the Chippewas at 1:30 pm.

Nichole Beall's (Culpeper, Va./Culpeper County) stellar performance in Radford's opening weekend at the NFCA Leadoff Classic garnered her all-tournament honors as well as Big South Player of the Week recognition.

Beall batted .467 (7-15) with four home runs, five RBI and five runs scored at last weekend's NFCA Leadoff Classic. She slugged 1.267 (19 TB) and registered a .556 on base percentage while picking up All-Tournament honors.

The sophomore belted two home runs against Illinois State, along with solo shots against Kent State and No. 4 Missouri. She reached base in all five contests, recording hits in four games with multiple-hit efforts against KSU, ISU and MU. Beall was also a perfect 2-for-2 in stolen base opportunities and drew three walks on the weekend.

It was the second weekly league accolade for Beall during her young career.

Radford got off to a tough start in its opening weekend of play, going 1-4 against a tough field at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga. The Highlanders picked up its first win of the season with a 3-2 victory over Kent State, but dropped contests to then No. 18 Louisiana, formerly Louisiana-Lafayette, Illinois, Illinois State and then-No. 4 Missouri.

Illinois and Missouri ended up being the only two schools to go 5-0 at the tournament and moved up or into the national polls. The Illini jumped into the polls at No. 21, while Mizzou moved up a spot to No. 3.

On the first day, Radford was defeated by the Ragin' Cajuns 8-0 and defeated the Golden Flashes, 3-2. Beall and Kristen Shifflett launched Radford's first home runs of the season in the triumph.

Day two was a tough one as they were defeated by Illinois, 10-0 and Illinois State, 7-6. In the second contest, Radford held a 6-3 lead after batting in the fourth but the Redbirds rallied with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings and won the game with two outs in the seventh.

On Sunday against the No. 4 Tigers, the Highlanders jumped out to a 2-0 lead and rallied from a pair of one-run deficits, which included a pinch-hit home run by Meredith Moore (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) in the seventh, to send the game into extra innings.

Mizzou answered Radford's single runs in the eighth and ninth and after the Highlanders failed to score in the 10th the Tigers tallied the winning run with one out in the bottom half of the frame.

Following the Showcase, Radford will play a pair of contests on Tuesday, March 9 against Boston University and Ball State at 9:30 am and 1:30 pm.