CONWAY, SC—Radford scored five runs in the bottom of the second and that was all it needed in a 5-2 win over Winthrop to capture its second straight Big South Conference Softball Championship, Saturday afternoon at the Coastal Carolina Softball Field.
"That was a great championship ballgame,” said Winthrop head coach Mark Cooke. “We played hard and battled to the very end. They made two great defensive plays and we just didn't punch in the runs like we have been. It's a sad day for the seniors, but they were truly great athletes for us and won a lot of games in their career"
Radford (36-15) got the majority of its offense in the bottom of the second inning as it posted five runs and knocked out starting pitcher Megan Evans. It started with one out as Michelle Beall and Hope Creasy had back-to-back singles to right field. Taylor Cunningham doubled to right center, to score Beall from second. Meredith Moore then ripped a double to left center to give the Highlanders a 3-2 lead. Then Kristen Shifflett, the Big South Player of the Year, ripped a double to right center for a 5-2 lead.
Winthrop (28-29) jumped on Radford's starting pitcher Chelsea Kelley in the first inning for two runs.
Megan Chapman led off with a walk after an 0-2 count and moved to second as a Pearl Coleshill sacrifice bunt turned into a single. After Taylor Wright pushed the runners over to second and third on a sacrifice, Ashlee Revell stepped up and hit a deep ball to left field that was caught at the warning track. The ball was hit deep enough to allow Chapman to score from third for the sacrifice fly. Kelly Blea then singled to left field and Coleshill scored from second for a 2-0 lead.
The appearance was the 11th all-time for the Lady Eagles and the fifth time they've finished as the runner-up.
Evans took the loss and finishes the season 10-10 after allowing four runs on four hits in an inning and one-third. Wooldridge tossed four and two-third innings allowing one run on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
Wooldridge was named to the Big South Conference All-Tournament Team for the third time in her career. The two-time Big South Tournament Team MVP was joined on the all-tournament team by Revell and Veronica Berrie.
Wooldridge tossed a three-hitter earlier in the day to lead Winthrop to a 4-0 over a second-seeded Liberty to advance to the championship game.
Ashleigh Jackson put Winthrop on the board first as she hit a solo home run to left center to lead off the second innings. With a 2-2 count, Liberty catcher Ashley Bensinger dropped a foul ball that kept Jackson's at-bat alive and she took full advantage of the second opportunity.
Two solid defensive plays by Lenny Stoddart, Lauren Levin and Chapman helped Winthrop keep Liberty's offense at bay in the fifth inning. Stoddart made a diving catch coming in on a soft fly ball to left field for the second out. Then Levin made a perfect throw to second base where Chapman scooped up the throw and tagged out the runner trying to steal second, which ended the inning.
Coleshill led off the sixth inning with a double as her bloop hit to shallow left field went off the glove of Kelly Strickland running on to try and make the catch. Coleshill was sacrificed to third by Taylor Wright and Levin followed with a walk to put runners at the corner. After the walk issued by Katie Warrington, Liberty head coach Paul Wetmore made a change in the pitching circle by entering Tiffani Smith to get the Lady Flames out of the jam. However, on the first pitch Cooke called a squeeze play and Revell executed a perfect bunt as that plated Coleshill. Revell reached first safely as Liberty did not have a play and Jenna Harbin hustled over to third base. Blea followed with a fly ball to left that scored Harbin for a 3-0 lead.
The shutout was sixth of the season for Wooldridge who didn't walk a single batter and had four strikeouts as she is now 17-14 on the year.
