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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
Kayla Bishton
RUHighlanderPhotos.com
4
Campbell CAM 27-30
8
Winner Radford RADFORD 35-25
Campbell CAM
27-30
4
Final
8
Radford RADFORD
35-25
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Campbell CAM 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 3 5
Radford RADFORD 0 0 1 5 1 1 X 8 8 0

W: Huffman, Kayla (7-4) L: K BAKER (11-12) S: Morrow, Abby (1)

Game Recap: Softball |

BISHTON SPARKS 8-4 COMEBACK WIN AS RADFORD TAKES ANOTHER STEP



ROCK HILL, S.C. – Three times facing elimination and three victories. Now the Radford softball team is just one away from playing for the Big South Conference championship.
 
The fourth-seeded Highlanders solved No. 5 Campbell for the first time in four games Friday night, overcoming a four-run deficit with eight unanswered runs, highlighted by a career-high six RBIs from Kayla Bishton, to take an 8-4 decision in a semifinal matchup. The two teams will now meet for the sixth time in the last nine days on Saturday at 12:30 p.m., with the winner earning a spot in the 3 p.m. championship game.
 
Bishton's first career grand slam capped a five-run fourth inning and gave Radford its first lead over the Fighting Camels since it opened the regular-season finale series with a victory.
 
The Highlanders added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth, but they weren't needed as Abby Morrow came on in relief to start the fifth and held Campbell hitless over the final three innings.
 
Kayla Huffman worked the first four innings and notched the victory. She allowed only three hits. Two of them were home runs by red-hot Campbell slugger Amber Schisler and the other was a questionable infield single.
 
As it did in its last three wins over the Highlanders, Campbell took the early lead as Schisler, who went 5 for 5 in the teams' tourney opener on Wednesday, followed a pair of first-inning walks with a three-run homer. She added her 15th of the year with two outs in the third inning to make it 4-0.
 
Radford, though, began its comeback by getting the run back in the bottom half of the third. Nia Chiles and Marissa Gagliano started it with back-to-back singles before Bishton poked a single up the middle. Whitney Davis nearly added three more runs as she drove a ball deep to left, but it had too much air under it and it was caught on the warning track.
 
However, Bishton had more than enough distance for the go-ahead slam in the fourth as she made the Fighting Camels pay for two defensive miscues. Marissa Yow drew a one-out walk and Alex Lang reached on an error after her sacrifice. Chiles followed with a single to left to load the bases and a throwing error on a grounder to short made it 4-2 and kept the inning alive. Bishton took advantage by crushing a 2-2 pitch over the right-field fence for her seventh homer of the season. It gave her nine RBIs during the Highlanders three wins over the last two days.
 
In the fifth, Whitney Davis drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a sacrifice by Hannah Medlam and went to third on a single by Yow. Lang then barely missed a three-run homer, driving a ball deep to center that was caught near the top of the fence. She settled for a sacrifice fly RBI to make it 7-4.
 
Another leadoff hit, this time by Gagliano, started the sixth and she followed with her 26th stolen base. A wild pitch moved her to third and she came home on an error off an RBI groundball by Bishton.
 
Radford outhit Campbell for the first time in their five meetings, totaling eight in the game, with Bishton, Gagliano, Yow and Chiles each collecting two. Katie Baker took the loss for the Fighting Camels, allowing six runs – though just one was earned – on six hits in 4 1-3 innings.
 
Saturday's game will follow a second matchup between No. 1 Longwood and No. 2 Coastal Carolina in the other semifinal. Longwood forced another game between the two by winning 5-0 on Friday. ESPN3 will air both semifinal games and the championship.
 
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