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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
8
Winner UNC Greensboro UNCG 24-15
2
Radford RAD 11-23
Winner
UNC Greensboro UNCG
24-15
8
Final
2
Radford RAD
11-23
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
UNC Greensboro UNCG 0 6 0 0 0 0 2 8 6 0
Radford RAD 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 6 2

W: Maddie Spell (7-5) L: Palya, Ellen (3-2)

4
UNC Greensboro UNCG 24-16
5
Winner Radford RAD 12-23
UNC Greensboro UNCG
24-16
4
Final
5
Radford RAD
12-23
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
UNC Greensboro UNCG 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 4 9 1
Radford RAD 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 5 10 1

W: Reeves, Malorie (2-9) L: Jorde Chartrand (5-6)

RachelSmith
Rob Simmons

Game Recap: Softball |

Smith’s Heroic Homer Highlights Highlanders Doubleheader Against UNC Greensboro

RADFORD, Va. –The Radford softball program split their doubleheader with UNC Greensboro Wednesday afternoon thanks to a clutch walk-off two-run homer by Rachel Smith in the second game of the day.

Game 1
One early bad inning would fall the Highlanders in the first game of the day as the slugging Spartans deposited three home runs in the top of the second inning. Freshman pitcher Natalie Jones would enter the game from there and keep the Highlanders competitive into the later innings.

The Highlanders would regroup and respond for a run in the bottom of the second to trail just 6-1. Abby Wilson drew her first of two walks in the game to open the inning and Rachel Smith singled to put runners on second and third. Laura Thompson took care of the rest with a sacrifice fly for the run.

After two clean innings by Jones, the offense struck again for another run. Wilson drew another walk, Smith walked and Thompson singled to load the bases with none out. After two straight outs, Qween Edmonds came up clutch with an infield single to the first baseman that she out-sprinted to the bag and made it a 6-2 deficit.

Jones would continue to cruise, but the Spartans would tag on two more runs in the top of the seventh from their fourth homer of the game to go up 8-2 for the eventual final score.

Game 2
In the second game of the day the Highlanders continued to keep the Spartans high-powered offense at bay to keep things close until they were able to strike late. The Spartans scratched across a run early, but freshman starter Malorie Reeves settled in and would provide seven quality innings for Radford.

Thompson and McMillan would lead off the bottom of the first by reaching base, but three straight outs ended the early threat. McMillan would double again in the third but also be left stranded in the 1-0 ballgame. After UNC Greensboro added a run in the top of the fourth, Radford finally struck in the fifth.

Foster Sharpe led off the inning, but a fielder's choice replaced her at first with Thompson. McMillan added another hit, a single this time, to move Thompson to third. Wilson came up big with the RBI hit to center that scored Thompson and made it just a 2-1 game.

UNC Greensboro would add to their lead with two more runs in the top of the seventh, but Radford did not go away quietly in the bottom half for the thrilling finish. Sharpe again got the inning started with a single and Thompson followed her with another hit that scored Sharpe and made it just a 4-2 deficit.

After Thompson moved to third on a wild pitch, Radford seemed to be down to their final out but a costly error by a dropped foul ball gave the team new life as Thompson scored and Wilson stood at second with team now only trailing 4-3.

Rachel Smith walked up to the plate with a huge task to either force extras or call game. Smith chose to call game. Down to the team's final strike, Smith crushed a no-doubter to left center field that cleared the fence and sent the team home as walk-off winners 5-4.

UP NEXT
Alumni Weekend is next up for the Highlanders as the squad has a three-game series scheduled against USC Upstate this weekend. The Big South series gets started Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. with alumni festivities scheduled for Saturday's doubleheader.
 
Follow Softball on Social Media
For more information on the Radford softball team, follow @RadfordSoftball on Twitter and Instagram or Radford Softball on Facebook.
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