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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
2
Winner Longwood LWUSB 27-16, 13-3 BSC
0
Radford RAD 14-32, 3-14 BSC
Winner
Longwood LWUSB
27-16, 13-3 BSC
2
Final
0
Radford RAD
14-32, 3-14 BSC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Longwood LWUSB 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 5 0
Radford RAD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0

W: CHAPIN, Maggie (6-5) L: Reeves, Malorie (2-13)

8
Longwood LWUSB 27-17, 13-4 BSC
9
Winner Radford RAD 15-32, 4-14 BSC
Longwood LWUSB
27-17, 13-4 BSC
8
Final
9
Radford RAD
15-32, 4-14 BSC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Longwood LWUSB 0 0 2 1 5 0 0 8 12 3
Radford RAD 0 0 0 0 5 3 1 9 7 0

W: Reeves, Malorie (3-13) L: CHAPIN, Maggie (6-6)

Seniors

Game Recap: Softball |

Largest Comeback in Four Years Highlights Softball Senior Day Doubleheader

RADFORD, Va. –The Radford softball program hosted senior day and two exciting games against Longwood Saturday afternoon. Longwood took the first game 2-0, but Radford came back from all the way down 8-0 in game two to win 9-8 in their largest comeback in four years.

Before the day's action, the Highlanders honored their three seniors on the team with a pre-game ceremony. Radford is forever thankful of the hard work and dedication Abby Wilson, Skyler DeHart and Laura Thompson put into the team over their careers.

Game 1
The first game of the day was a sprint for both squads with a total game time of 1 hour and 20 minutes in a full seven innings. Both pitchers were locked in a duel as freshman Malorie Reeves continued to impress with another strong outing.

After a solo homer in the first, Reeves was excellent the rest of the way. Laura Thompson got her senior day kicked off right with a single in the second inning and after a sacrifice bunt would be stranded on second base.

Longwood would add another run in the third inning off a wild pitch, but it was lights out for Reeves from there. In the fourth inning Longwood got a pair of hits that put runners on second and third with one out, but Reeves responded with a strikeout and a fly out to end the threat.

The fifth inning saw a rare occurrence in the sport as Reeves retired the side in just three pitches forcing two line outs and Reeves herself making a nice move on a bunt attempt. Despite conceding a hit in the sixth, Reeves threw just nine pitches to again toss a scoreless frame. Needing just five pitches to get through the seventh inning, Reeves capped a great performance against one of the conference's top teams despite the 2-0 final.
 
Game 2
Through the first five innings of the second game of the day, everything seemed to be going Longwood's way as they burst out the gates for an unanswered eight runs. With an 8-0 deficit, the Highlanders faced a tall task in the three remaining innings.

Radford didn't back down.

Facing a potential mercy rule after Longwood's five-run top of the fifth made it an 8-0 game, Radford scored five runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Natalie Moya reached by an error to start the rally. Kyndall Stanley replaced her on the basepaths and would steal second and advanced to third off a wild pitch. Lexie Roberts roped a single to left and Radford was on the board down 8-1.

Roberts would steal second and Thompson singled with still just one out in the frame. That set up the senior Abby Wilson to come up clutch once again with a three-run homer that made it just an 8-4 game. That forced a Longwood pitching change, but the hits just kept coming. Cori McMillan would single and Cassi Barbato drew a walk allowing McMillan to get onto third with still one out. A Rachel Smith groundout scored McMillan making it a new ballgame at 8-5.

Malorie Reeves came in for a relief appearance in the top of the sixth, picking right up from where she left off in the first game of the day. With three quick outs, Radford would go back to work in the bottom of the inning.

Right away the errors came for Longwood as two infield errors had Highlanders on first and third with none out. A sacrifice fly by Roberts got the job done and scored Qween Edmonds to make it an 8-6 deficit. Thompson would walk and caused chaos on the bases, deceiving Longwood into never getting a throw to second where she advanced. With two outs, McMillan dropped a single into no-mans land in center field to score Stanley and Thompson, tying the game at eight-all.

It was another 1-2-3 inning for Reeves in the seventh, setting up the Highlanders to go home winners with just a single run. Smith started the bottom of the seventh with a pop, doubling to right field. A Natalie Jones groundout moved Smith to third, still with just one out in the inning.

The young freshman Edmonds stepped up to the plate for a big at bat. With seven runs batted in this year, Edmonds was no stranger to getting runners in. With the infield playing in, Edmonds hit a grounder to third and would be out at first. Smith timed it perfectly, though, speeding home and avoiding the tag at the plate to seal the comeback victory 9-8 in Radford's favor.

The comeback win marks Radford's largest comeback since April 5th, 2019 when the team was down 11-4 to Winthrop in the fifth inning. The Highlanders had no comebacks in deficits larger than five runs during that entire span as well.
 
UP NEXT
The Highlanders will compete in their final series of the season when they hit the road for Boiling Springs, N.C. next weekend. Radford and Gardner-Webb will get started at 4 p.m. on Friday, May 5th.
 
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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