Before I get into the softball recap from this past weekend, I want to give a shout out to the Venezuela World Baseball Classic team. They defeated the US last night 3 to 2 to win the top spot in the series. It's been a crazy two weeks with lots of excitement, so I am kind of sad to see it all come to an end, but that just means we have something to look forward to in another three years. Also good news is the fact that baseball is coming back to the Olympic games in 2028, but I have a feeling it won't be as all encompassing as the World Baseball Classic was. Based on my cursory searches, there will only be six teams allowed to participate in the Olympic games with the US getting an automatic bid since they are the host country.
The Radford Highlanders Softball squad had a double header last night against Marshall that was cancelled due to some weather that they had moving through the area. I was chatting with my niece yesterday and she didn't seem to sad about it. She said that this gives them some time to have a couple really good practice sessions before they head into regular conference play this coming weekend.
Meanwhile, last weekend the university hosted an invitational that was made of up Radford, Lafayette, and ETSU (East Tennessee). As you might have guessed from the title of this post, it was as sweep for the ladies winning all three games they played over the weekend. My niece even got to enter the game for a couple at bats. She also pinch ran for a player and scored a run in one of the later games.
They first faced Lafayette on Friday evening and camea way with an impressive 8 to 3 victory. They went down early 1 to 0, but were able to fight back with some great pitching and their hot bats.
Saturday they had a late morning game against ETSU that was a lot closer than the one the day before. It was a hard battle with ETSU, but the Highlanders were able to come away with a 2 to 1 victory over them. As you can tell from the lower score, their pitching was once again on point.
Finally, later on Saturday, they had another game against Lafayette. This one started out really similar to the last one with Lafayette going ahead early, but then the bats got hot again for Radford and the pitcher locked it in for them to cruise to a 9 to 2 victory.
Sadly, our niece wasn't able to get any hits, she flew out on both of her at bats, but a lot of her teammates did the same thing, and the fact that she was able to be on the field for more than just a pinch run was awesome. She even stole a base which is pretty common for her in travel ball, but may have been a first in college ball.
As I said, conference play starts this weekend with a game on Friday against USC Upstate and then a double header against them on Saturday. When I was talking to our niece, she mentioned that Upstate is probably their closest competition in the Big South Conference, so they need to secure some wins this weekend. I look forward to watching it on ESPN+!
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