BIG INNINGS POWER RADFORD TO WINS OVER COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON AND JACKSONVILLE

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Radford broke tie ball games with three and four-run innings to come out with a pair of victories on day two of the USF Under Armour Invitational. The Highlanders (7-6) extended their winning streak to five with wins over College of Charleston, 4-1 and Jacksonville, 7-3.
 
Against the Cougars (12-6), Ryndee Ruch (Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee) delivered a RBI single that broke a 1-1 deadlock and highlighted a three-run fifth, which lifted Radford to a 4-1 victory.
 
The comeback was made possible by another shutout relief effort from Jackie Jenkins (Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee). Coming off a save (2.1 IP) one game ago against Wagner, Jenkins tossed the final four innings to earn her first win of the season. The sophomore allowed just one hit and one walk, while striking out two.

A third inning double put the Cougars on the board first. Nichole Beall (Culpeper, Va./Culpeper County) tied the contest with a solo blast in the fourth.

In the fifth, sophomore Morgan Eye (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) led off with a double down the line and Ruch followed with her go-ahead single to left. Two batters later, Hannah Ojeda (Tampa, Fla./Tallahassee CC) knocked in Ruch with a single to center. Ojeda would tack on the final run on an error.

That was plenty for Jenkins, who allowed just a one-out single in the sixth, but the runner was quickly erased on an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
 
Eye recorded her first multi-hit collegiate game, going 2-for-2 with a walk.

In the second game of the day, Eye broke a 3-3 tie with a two-run single that ignited a four-run sixth and powered Radford to a 7-3 win over the Dolphins (11-9).
 
In the sixth, the Highlanders loaded the bags on two singles and a walk followed by Eye’s game-winning single to center. They would add two more runs on a RBI single by Ruch and a sac fly by Jessie Hutchens (Berwyn, Ill./Riverside Brookefield).

Ruch and Taylor Cunningham (Fairfax, Va./Robinson Secondary) each had two hits with Cunningham scoring twice.
 
Chelsea Kelley (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) started and after leaving in the second, reentered in the third to pick up the victory. In 5.2 frames of work, she surrendered two runs on six hits with five strikeouts and one walk.

Radford took a 3-0 lead in the second, highlighted a two-run long ball by Meredith Moore (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring).

The Dolphins tied the game with a run in the third and two more in the fifth. They threatened in the bottom of the seven by loading the bases with one out, but Kelley induced a shallow fly ball and then struck out a pinch hitter to end the game.

The Highlanders close out the Under Armour Invitational tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. against Columbia.