/
.
Softball
Cavaliers Suffer 5-2 Setback at Radford
March 8, 2017
RADFORD, Va. – Radford (9-6) held Virginia (9-11) scoreless in five of the seven innings and scored four in its final two turns at the plate to earn a 5-2, non-conference victory.
Highlander senior pitcher Abby Morrow, the back-to-back Big South Pitcher of the Week, worked herself out of an assortment jams all afternoon. In total, she stranded eight Cavalier baserunners and worked around five errors by her defense. The right-hander tossed a complete game, scattered seven hits and struck out one in her eighth win of the year.
Virginia only cashed in one run in the top of the first in which Radford committed three fielding errors. Katie Park (Scottsdale, Ariz.) scored from second base on a 5-2-3 double play attempt in which the catcher’s throw sailed into right field. Two ensuing ground outs induced by Morrow ended the early Virginia threat.
Radford was able to knot the game up in the bottom of the third thanks to a two-out triple by Marissa Gagliano. The sophomore’s first triple of the season put her in position to score on an infield hit by Sofia Tapia. Gagliano was 2-for-4 with two runs scored in the contest.
The Highlanders took the lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring runs on a wild pitch and a passed ball while Tapia was batting. A towering two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth off the bat of Brittany Wratchford, extended the lead to 5-1.
One-out hits by Allison Davis (Oak Hill, Va.) and Park in the top of the seventh produced a glimmer of hope for Virginia. With the tying run in the on-deck circle, Olivia Gott (Weston, Fla.) pushed a ground ball to the right side that allowed Davis to score. The rally was quickly subdued after Morrow produced the game-ending fly out.
Park finished the day 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. She bumped her average to a team-best, .413. Six of the seven Virginia hits were accumulated by the top five hitters in the batting order.
Sophomore pitcher Erika Osherow (Darien, Conn.) left the game in the bottom of the fifth with the game tied at one and runners at first and second. She struck out three batters and was charged with two earned runs in 4.1 innings of work. Including today, she had pitched 20.1 straight innings against Radford after two complete games against the Highlanders last season.
The Cavaliers will return home this weekend for a three-game series against Boston College. The three-game set is slated to begin on Friday with a 5:00 p.m. first pitch.