SOFTBALL DROPS SEASON-OPENING TWINBILL AT NO. 23 UNC

BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Radford softball dropped its season-opening doubleheader at No. 23 North Carolina by scores of 7-1 and 7-3 Wednesday evening from Anderson Field. Freshman Becky Mantel and senior Ryndee Ruch each recorded three hits in the twinbill for the Highlanders (0-2).

UNC's Lori Spingola (W, 3-1) allowed one hit and struck out 12 over six innings and the Tar Heels (5-2) recorded 13 hits in a 7-1 game one victory. Mantel recorded her first collegiate hit for the Highlanders, an RBI single in the seventh.

Carolina broke a scoreless deadlock and grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third. Following a pair of one-out singles, a throw to third on a wild pitch was low and skidded away, allowing Amy Nece to scoot home with the unearned run.

A two-run home run to center by Kristen Walker made it 3-0 in the fourth. The final four Tar Heel runs came with two outs, adding one in the fifth and three more in the sixth.

Junior Jessie Hutchens' two-out double kept the seventh inning alive. After freshman Megan Honaker came in as a pinch runner, she easily scored on Mantel's grounder up the middle.

Senior Jackie Jenkins went the distance for the Highlanders in their first game of the season. Ruch recorded the first hit of 2013, a single in the second.

The Highlanders jumped out to a 3-1 lead in game two, but a six-run fifth keyed UNC to a 7-3 victory. Mantel and Ruch paced the offense with two hits apiece. Ruch added two RBI.

Freshman Emily Naegele sparked Radford to a 1-0 lead in the first. She launched a solo home run to right center for her first collegiate hit.

UNC evened the score in the second on a two-out bases loaded single by Brown. The score stayed that way when Mantel gunned out Elly Wagner, who was trying to score from second, for the final out of the frame.

A two-out fourth inning rally capped by a two-run single by Ruch put Radford back on top 3-1. With two outs, Mantel roped a double to left center moving Hutchens, who singled with one out, to third. Following a pitching change, Ruch connected on a 2-0 pitch and sent it up the middle for her first two RBI of the season.

The Tar Heels threatened in the bottom half of the frame, but freshman Rachael Walters got out of a one-out bases loaded jam by inducing a force out at home and a fly ball to left.

In the fifth, UNC scored six two-out runs to take the lead for good. Constance Orr's bloop single that dropped in for the first run of the inning, started a stretch of five straight singles, the latter two knocked in the tying and go-ahead runs. A pitching change ensued, but it did not slow UNC down, as the Tar Heels scored on a walk and a two-run single by Nece for three insurance runs.

Walters suffered the defeat in her collegiate debut in 4.2 innings of work.

Radford resumes play next Wednesday, Feb. 20 when it hosts Virginia Tech for its home opener. First pitch for the single game from RU Softball Field is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

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