FOUR-RUN SIXTH LIFTS KENTUCKY OVER SOFTBALL

BOX SCORE
BOX SCORE

STATESBORO, Ga. – A three-run, two-out double in the bottom of the sixth by Kentucky's Rachel Riley broke a 5-5 tie and lifted the Wildcats to a 9-5 victory over Radford at the Eagle Classic, Saturday afternoon from Georgia Southern.

In a sloppy contest that featured nine errors, the Highlanders (0-2) rallied from a 5-0 deficit, highlighted by a four-run fourth, only to see Kentucky (7-5) load the bases and score four two-out unearned runs to take home the victory.

Ryndee Ruch and Hannah Ojeda each had two hits for the Highlanders.

Radford got on the board in the fifth when Ojeda singled and came around on two wild pitches.

The Highlanders would even the game at 5-all in the sixth, scoring all four runs before an out was recorded. An RBI single up the middle by Ruch pushed across the first run. With runners on the corners, Jessica Agee's bunt single plated Ruch. The fourth and fifth runs came courtesy of two errors that followed a double steal by Agee and Jessie Hutchens.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Wildcats loaded the bases on an error, fielder's choice and single. Micalah Sacre induced a foul out and struck out Brittany Cervantes, but Riley stroked a double to fence in rightcenter that cleared the bases and Alice O'Brien tacked on another run with a double off of Stephanie Dameron.

Sacre suffered the defeated. She allowed six runs, just two earned, on six hits with two strikeouts in 2.2 innings of relief. She also recorded her first collegiate hit with a single in the first.

The Highlanders committed five errors in the contest that led to seven unearned runs for the Wildcats.

Radford squandered a bases load opportunity in the top of the first. Courtesy of an error, walk and single by Sacre, the Highlanders loaded the bases with one out, but two groundouts ended the threat.

Kentucky took advantage of its bases loaded situation in the bottom half of the frame, scoring an unearned run on Erin Cumbess' two-out RBI single, which was preceded by a double, an error and a walk.

Two more errors and an RBI single led to a pair of second-inning Wildcat runs. Emily Jolly added two more for UK in the fourth on a two-run long ball to centerfield.

Jackie Jenkins started for the Highlanders and did not allow an earned run in three innings. She surrendered four hits, struck out three and walked one.

Radford will take on host Georgia Southern at approximately 5:30 p.m.

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