ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Radford softball team had a habit most of this season of answering back after an opponent scored. The Highlanders hadn't done so as much lately, but picked the perfect time to find that magic again, scoring twice with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk off with a 4-3 victory over Winthrop and stay alive in the Big South Tournament.
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Fourth-seeded Radford (33-25) earned its first conference tourney win since 2012, stopping a six-game losing streak, and moved on to another elimination game against the loser of No. 2 Coastal Carolina and No. 3 Liberty. The quarterfinal round game was postponed to Friday at 2 p.m. after the rest of Thursday's schedule could not be completed due to inclement weather. Coastal held a 3-0 lead over Liberty was play in that game was stopped.
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After Winthrop had struck for a three runs in the top of the seventh, the Highlanders came back to tie it on Becky Mantel's RBI single and Kayla Bishton capped a three-hit performance with the game-winning RBI single.
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Senior Nia Chiles got the rally started with her second hit, chopping one back up the middle. A sacrifice bunt by Marissa Gagliano moved her into scoring position, but a popout followed for the second out. Senior Mantel came through in the clutch, though, driving a 2-0 pitch over the leaping second baseman into right-center to easily plate Chiles. She then moved up to second when Whitney Davis was hit by a pitch, setting up Bishton, who had homered earlier in the game. The junior hit the first pitch for a single to center and Mantel came sliding home just ahead of the throw for Radford's fourth walk-off win of the year and second when trailing in the middle of the seventh.
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Abby Morrow went the distance to claim her 19th win, shutting out the Eagles for the first six innings while tying a career-high with nine strikeouts.
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Bishton, whose three-hit game also tied a career-best, gave Radford a 1-0 lead when she led off the second inning by hitting a 2-2 pitch over the fence in center for her sixth home run of the year. The Highlanders had a chance for more as Summer Robinson followed with a deep single to right-center and Marissa Yow walked. The runners moved up on a sacrifice, but a lineout and flyout ended the inning.
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Radford did capitalize on a Winthrop error starting the fourth inning as Yow's liner went off the glove of the second baseman. Alex Lang's second sacrifice of the game moved her up a base and Chiles put an RBI single back through the middle to make it 2-0.
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Morrow, meanwhile, struck out five in the first three innings, worked perfect frames in the fourth and fifth and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. She had allowed just four hits before dribbler down the third-base line for an infield hit with one out in the seventh. A single to right and a hit batter followed to load the bases before she came with her eighth strikeout. She got two strikes on Winthrop RBI leader Leah Young, but she drove one to the right-field corner for a three-run triple to put the Eagles ahead. Morrow, though, kept it a one-run game by rebounding for her final strikeout.
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Winthrop's Kiley Majette also went the distance and took the loss. Both teams totaled seven hits.
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Friday, May 13
10:00am – resumption of Game 9 (Coastal Carolina vs. Liberty)Â
11:30am – Game 10 (Presbyterian vs. Longwood)Â
2:00pm – Game 11 (Radford vs. Loser Coastal/Liberty)Â
4:30pm – Game 12 (Semifinal Game 1 – Winner Coastal/Liberty vs. Winner PC/Longwood) – ESPN3
7:00pm – Game 13 (Semifinal Game 2 – Campbell vs. Winner Game 11) – ESPN3
Saturday, May 14
10:00am – Game 14 IF Necessary – ESPN3 *
12:30pm – Game 15 IF Necessary – ESPN3
3:00pm – WINNER TAKE ALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – ESPN3
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