The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Radford
Late Rally Lifts UAB Softball Over Radford 7-5
2/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 25, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB softball team made a late rally Friday night, scoring four runs in the sixth inning to defeat Radford, 7-5, in its Magic City Classic opener at UAB Softball Field.
Shortstop Kayla Orr led UAB at the plate, going 2-for-4 with one run and two RBI, while third baseman Kate Armstrong went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
"Radford is a very respectable team and is very fundamentally sound," UAB head coach Marla Townsend said. "After making several mistakes in the fourth, the girls did a great job putting the ball in play. We got seven hits out of our top five hitters and that's huge. We went from a team making errors left and right to a team that was determined to win the ballgame. It was a big win for us."
Center fielder Shannon Keefe and right fielder Hannah Ojeda led Radford offensively, with two hits apiece.
Radford (2-4) put the game's first run on the board in the first after Ojeda belted a double to centerfield, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and rounded the diamond on a single by Keefe.
The Blazers (6-6) responded with a run in both the second and third frames. Hailey Glynn tallied an RBI-single in the second, while Armstrong blasted an RBI-double in the third.
The Highlanders collected four runs in the fourth, two of which scored on a Blazer fielding error, to take the 5-2 advantage. Leigh Streetman (2-2) took over for Alisha Smith in the circle for UAB during the inning, after Smith surrendered six hits and two earned runs.
UAB posted a run in the bottom of the fourth after Caley Walden knocked an RBI-single to score pinch runner Tiffany Smith and narrow Radford's lead to 5-3.
The Blazer bats heated up in the sixth as UAB tallied four runs to claim the 7-5 lead. Catherine Douglass hit a single to left field to score the first run. Two batters later, Orr hit a shot to the shortstop and advanced on the throw to score a pair of runs, followed by a base hit by Armstrong to plate Douglass.
Streetman held Radford to just one hit in the final 3.1 innings and fanned five batters to pick up the win.
Radford used four pitchers against UAB, with Stephanie Dameron making the start and Kellie Snooks (0-2) suffering the loss after giving up three earned runs on three hits.
UAB continues the Magic City Classic Saturday with a pair of games. The Blazers face Stephen F. Austin at 12:30 p.m., followed by a matchup with Eastern Illinois at 3 p.m. at UAB Softball Field.
