GAME ONE BOX | GAME TWO BOX

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Radford's bats were silenced by Charleston Southern's Morgan Dowdy as it was held to seven hits and blanked 3-0 in a pair of Big South contests, Saturday afternoon from CSU Softball Field.

Dowdy tossed a four-hit shutout for the Buccaneers (24-30, 10-7 Big South) in the opener and limited the Highlanders (34-19, 13-4) to three hits in game two. All seven hits were singles.

Getting the leadoff runner on was key in the opener as CSU scored single runs in the second, third and sixth innings. In all three frames, the leadoff reached base with two of them scoring. Those were the only three occasions a leadoff batter reached as Radford only had one runner reach second and that she was stranded there in the first.

Dowdy scattered four singles and struck out two. Stephanie Dameron suffered the defeat as she surrendered two earned runs on six hits with two walks and a strikeout.

A leadoff walk and a two-out error allowed Charleston Southern to grab a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second. It was the first run scored against the Highlanders in 36.1 innings of league games and ended a four-game shutout streak.

Back-to-back singles to start the third and a one-out Texas league chopper by Kegley gave the Buccaneers a 2-0 advantage.

Jessica Brock was 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI and Megan Lombard also homered as CSU completed the sweep. The wins snapped Radford's 21-game conference series winning streak and was the first time it lost consecutive league games since the first series of 2008, also the last time it dropped a Big South series.

Solo home runs in the third and fourth innings gave CSU a 2-0 lead.

In between the long balls, Radford sustained its first offensive threat of the day putting runners on second and third with one out and bases loaded with two outs. However, on a slow roller to second with two outs the runner on first collided with the second baseman preventing the tying the run to score.

The Highlanders once again did not take advantage of a one-out second and third situation in the sixth. On a shallow fly ball to left, Kristen Shifflett tried to score, but was gunned out a home for the third out.

Chelsea Kelley took the loss as she allowed two runs on three hits in three innings. Kellie Snooks surrendered an unearned run on four hits in three innings of relief.

It was the first time the Highlanders were shut out since Feb. 26 against Saint Louis and just the third and fourth time all season. Also, Radford had not been held scoreless in a league game dating back to April 5, 2008 (0-2 vs. Winthrop), spanning 63 contests.

The teams wrap up the regular season with the final game of the series tomorrow, May 8 at 1 p.m.