MORROW LEADS RADFORD OVER LIBERTY 2-1, INTO SEMIFINAL ROUND

Friday, May 13

Rock Hill, S.C.

2PM

Radford University

34-25

No. 3 Liberty

31-28

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Radford	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	6	1
Liberty	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0

Photo by: Big South Sports Photos

MORROW LEADS RADFORD OVER LIBERTY 2-1, INTO SEMIFINAL ROUND

5/13/2016 5:08:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

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ROCK HILL, S.C. – Led by a strong performance from Abby Morrow and some timely offense, the Radford softball team stayed alive for the second straight game in the Big South Tournament, edging No. 3 seed Liberty 2-1 in an elimination game Friday afternoon.

The Highlanders (34-25) moved on to the face No. 5 seed Campbell in the semifinal round. The teams will play tonight at approximately 7 p.m. with the game being broadcast on ESPN3. A Radford win would force another matchup between the teams on Sunday.

Coming off nine-strikeout, near-shutout performance on Thursday, Morrow was equally good a day later, allowing just the single run on six hits, with five strikeouts and one walk to claim her 20th win of the year.

Kayla Bishton also came up big offensively again for RU, recording both RBIs, including the run-scoring hit in the fifth inning that broke a 1-1 tie.

From there, Morrow worked 1-2-3 innings in the bottom of the fifth and sixth and pitched around a one-walk in the seventh, closing it out on her 14th groundball out of the game.

She worked out of a jam in the first inning with back-to-back strikeouts after Liberty loaded the bases on two singles and a fielder's choice. The Flames did get their lone run in the second on a leadoff single, sacrifice and single past third baseman Marissa Yow. However, the junior held Liberty to just two hits over the final five frames.

Radford's offense was able to answer the score and even it up in the top of the third as Hannah Medlam worked a one-out walk and went to second on an infield single by Marissa Gagliano. The freshman then reached third ahead of the throw on a fielder's choice off a grounder to first, loading the bases with one out. Two batters later, Bishton was hit by the first pitch of her at-bat by Liberty starter Chase Cassady.

The Highlanders had a chance to take the lead in the fourth. Summer Robinson was hit by another pitch and Lizzy Humes followed with a pinch-hit single to left to move her to second. With two outs, Gagliano dropped a blooper into shallow left for her second hit, but a good throw home by Liberty's Jaclyn Amader was in time to get Robinson.

One inning later, Radford, took advantage of another opportunity with Bishton's RBI double. Becky Mantel set it up by ripping a one-out single past Cassady into center and followed by recording her 16th stolen base. Bishton then hit a 1-2 pitch to the gap in right-center for her team-high 13th double of the season. Bishton has now driven in four runs in the tournament.

Morrow became just the fifth different RU pitcher in program history to notch 20 victories in a season, tied for seventh most on the all-time list.

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