The Radford University softball team dropped its home opener on Wednesday evening to Virginia Tech, 10-0, in five innings.
After a four pitch walk in the second at-bat of the game, Darby Trull tried to steal second, but Maggie Rowe gunned her down for the second out of the game. Two pitches later Huffman picked up her lone strikeout of the game and ended the inning.
With a 2-2 count in the bottom of the first inning, Sofia Tapia blasted a ball off the wall in right field for a stand-up double. It was the first extra-base hit that Keely Rochard has surrendered all season. Tapia’s extra-base hit came up empty for the Highlanders as a pair of fly outs to center field left her stranded.
The glimpse of a big inning provided to be motivation for the Hokies after they opened the second inning with a double to right field. The Hokie runner came around to score on a single to right field by Mackenzie Lawter. The 1-0 deficit grew to 3-0 when leadoff hitter Al Velaquez singled through the left side and drove in a pair of runners. Sienna Williams prevented the big inning, despite being shielded by a base runner trotting to third, she fielded the ball and threw it to first for the final out.
After striking out the side in the bottom of the second, the Hokies increased their lead to five with a pair of home runs in the top of the third inning. One coming from Caitlyn Nolan who belted two home runs and collected three RBI’s in the contest.
Nolan had been in a slump and was glad to break through Wednesday with two homeruns
“It feels definitely a lot better,” Nolan said. “I mean, I’ve been hitting the ball hard pretty since the season started, but then they weren’t falling as of late. So, all of the coaches have been telling me to keep doing exactly what I’m doing and don’t change anything.
“I’ve been trusting that and trying to stick with what I’ve been doing. But it worked out tonight thank goodness (laughing).”
Her second dinger looked a little short. “I was like, ‘Just please stay fair,’ and it hit off the pole,” Nolan grinned. “I swung and didn’t think I had enough to get it out, so I was just jogging a little bit and I was like, ‘Oh no, it’s going to go foul.’ But I was just glad it knocked off the pole and it counted.”
The shortstop, who was 2 for her last 16 at the plate, got back in a rhythm for the Hokies (13-2), garnering three hits versus the Highlanders (5-6) at the Radford Softball Stadium. Third baseman Kelsey Bennett also hit one out of the park, going opposite field to right.
Virginia Tech made it a 10-0 game in the fourth inning when they scored five runs on three hits and took advantage of two Highlander errors.
Ellie Rowe had the third hit of the game for Radford and it came in the seventh inning. She had a pinch-hit single through the right side, but a first pitch groundout to first base ended the game.
Tapia went 1-for-1 with one walk and a double. The double was the first extra-base hit allowed in 43 innings pitched by Rochard.
–Staff reports
