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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
TeamVsBucknell
0
Bucknell BUCK 2-4
3
Winner Radford RAD 4-2
Bucknell BUCK
2-4
0
Final
3
Radford RAD
4-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Bucknell BUCK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2
Radford RAD 0 0 0 1 0 2 X 3 4 0

W: Reeves, Malorie (2-0) L: Madison Roukey (1-1) S: Peace, Abby (1)

1
Bucknell BUCK 2-5
7
Winner Radford RAD 5-2
Bucknell BUCK
2-5
1
Final
7
Radford RAD
5-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Bucknell BUCK 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 1
Radford RAD 0 0 1 3 3 0 X 7 9 0

W: Greene, Chloe (1-1) L: Savannah Jones (1-1)

Game Recap: Softball |

Radford Sweeps Bucknell Behind Dominant Pitching and Timely Hitting

RADFORD, Va. –The Radford softball program opened the home portion of their schedule Friday afternoon with a doubleheader sweep over Bucknell. Radford won the first game in shutout fashion 3-0 and turned around to put a dominant 7-1 win in game two.
 
Game 1
In Friday's opener, it was a low-scoring affair as the first run wouldn't cross until halfway into the game. Malorie Reeves got the starting nod, and she picked up from where she left off last weekend with another quality outing. The Bison threatened early with two runners on, but Reeves picked up a strikeout to end the top of the first.

Reeves would toss three-up, three-down innings in the second and third before Radford got its first scoring opportunity. In the top of the fourth, the Bison led off with a double, but Reeves stranded her at third with another clutch three outs. In the bottom half, Radford finally struck. Abby Wilson led off the inning with a laser shot to left field for the day's lone home run in the cold weather.

Up 1-0, Reeves got the first two outs of the fifth before passing on the pitching duties to Abby Peace. Peace immediately forced a groundout to strand the lone Bison runner. After a clean top of the sixth, Radford got some critical insurance in the bottom half.

Abby Bossler led off the inning with a single and was promptly pinch ran for by Kyndall Stanley. Lexie Roberts singled to third and after an error, both Stanley and Roberts stood in scoring position. Wilson walked to load the bases to give Rachel Smith a prime opportunity. Smith, the reigning Big South Player of the Week, roped a single to left to score Stanley and Roberts for the 3-0 lead.

Radford kept the inning alive with another walk by Amanda Lee, but a nifty defensive play in center kept Amber Wolfe from pushing the score further than 3-0. In the seventh, it was more dominance for Peace who allowed just one baserunner and shut down the rest to seal the 3-0 victory and earn her first save.

Game 2
The second game of the evening would see much more offense for the Highlanders as the team grouped together for a more dominant win. Things would start quietly as neither team scored until the third inning.

Chloe Greene got her second start of the year and immediately navigated out of trouble in the first stranding two runners with a pair of flyouts. The second went much easier for Greene in three-up, three-down fashion. After a leadoff walk, Greene didn't allow anything more in the top of the third as the score remained knotted at 0-0.

With two outs in the bottom of the third, Radford didn't give in to another quick inning. Roberts singled on a well struck ground ball to the shortstop. Wilson followed her immediately crushing a double to left center for the two-out RBI and a 1-0 lead.

A trio of timely singles for the Bison evened up the game at one-all in the top of the fourth as Radford surrendered its first run of the day. The game wouldn't stay tied long as the offense caught fire in the bottom half of the inning. Cassi Barbato led things off with a single and Stanley entered once again to run. Lee also got an infield single, and the duo proceeded to steal second and third for another big opportunity.

After a pop up gave the Bison one out, another pop up seemed destined for out two until a critical error allowed the bases to be loaded with one out. Wolfe was selected to pinch hit in a big spot and delivered. The freshman snuck a grounder down the first base line for a triple that cleared the bases for a 4-1 lead.

After Morgan Cooper entered the game to pitch the fifth and kept the Bison scoreless for the frame, Radford played add on. Radford wasted no time as Wilson walked, R. Smith doubled and Barbato singled Wilson home to extend the lead to 5-1. Emma Yates got a big infield single to score R. Smith and further push the lead to 6-1. Yates and Barbato executed a double steal to perfection that allowed Barbato to score and make it 7-1 Radford.

That was all the Highlanders pitching department would need to seal up the pair of wins. Cooper tossed a perfect sixth and seventh innings to seal the deal and push Radford to a 5-2 record through the early portion of the schedule.
 
KEY STATS
  • Radford is now 5-1 in games this season where they score the first run with the only loss coming in extra innings.
  • Radford's pitching staff continues to excel as Reeves, Peace, Greene and Cooper combined for 14 innings allowing just one run on the day. Radford's pitching staff this season has allowed just seven earned runs in 47 total innings of work.
  • With the run scoring opportunities today, R. Smith grew her team lead in RBI to nine this season. Wilson is not far behind with seven.
  • Wolfe joins Roberts as the only two Highlanders to triple this season through seven games.
  • In the 2023 season, Radford's first run at home came via a home run by Emily Smith. Wilson replicated that today with her home run that marked the first run of the home schedule.
     
UP NEXT
Radford will now prepare for a huge test when they travel to their next weekend tournament hosted by Georgia. Radford will face opponents such as Dartmouth, Georgia and Virginia Tech with the latter two ranked inside the top-20 in all national polls.
 
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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