SOFTBALL HOSTS MARSHALL ON WEDNESDAY IN HOME OPENER

LIVE STATS

Radford welcomes Marshall for its home opener tomorrow at RU Softball Field. The Highlanders and Thundering Herd will face off in a single game at 4:00 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT: Radford went 1-4 at the Miken Maryland Invitational picking up a 4-3 win over the host Terrapins…. The Highlanders (3-12) opened a 3-0 lead and after watching Maryland even the ball game at 3-3 in the sixth, Jessie Hutchens roped a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh and Becky Mantel threw out the game-tying run at home for the final out of the contest…. Freshman Rachael Walters went the distance, allowing two earned runs on five hits with two strikeouts.

RU TIDBITS: Mantel batted .417 and posted a .611 on base percentage in five games last weekend… She knocked in two and scored two runs… Mantel also recorded her third outfield assist of the season against Maryland, all three coming at home plate… Freshman Hayley Tabora registered her first collegiate hit against Maryland... Freshman Emily Naegele is on a three-game hitting streak, batting .500 (4-8) with three RBI… She leads the squad with eight RBI.

THE THUNDERING HERD: Marshall (10-12) was swept by then-No. 21 Tulsa on the road in its first Conference USA series of the year… Prior to that, the Herd went undefeated (4-0) at their annual Marshall Invitational… Ashley Gue and Jazmine Valle are batting .333 and .315, respectively… Gue also has 11 runs scored and a team-best 11 stolen bases, while Valle has a team-high eight doubles and 12 RBI… Andi Williamson has tossed all but 24.2 innings this season… She is 10-11 with a 2.60 ERA and 154 strikeouts in 118.1 innings of work and has held opponents to a .187 batting average.

SERIES: This will be the 10^th meeting between the schools with the Thundering Herd owning an 8-1 lead in the series… These two squads last met in Huntington on April 8, 2009 with Marshall earning a doubleheader sweep by the scores of 8-2 and 6-5…. Following the sweep, the Highlanders won 15 of their last 16 regular season games and go on to win their first Big South Championship… Radford's lone victory was a 2-1 road triumph on April 22, 2003.

UP NEXT: Radford will take part in the USF Under Armour Invitational next weekend at the Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater, Fla. The Highlanders will face Quinnipiac, LIU-Brooklyn, Boston College, Cornell and Rhode Island from March 15-17.

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