Box Score
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Radford softball’s storybook season came to an end, falling to No. 15 North Carolina, 9-4, in the second elimination game of the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional. Just prior to their matchup with the Tar Heels (47-12), the Highlanders (41-15) won the school’s first team NCAA tournament contest with a 9-5 victory over Campbell.
“I could not be more proud of our team this season,” said Dean. “We had a tremendous year with a lot of firsts. Our first conference championship, first team NCAA victory for our athletic program and our first all-region first-team selections.”
Sophomore
Kristen Shifflett (Charlottesville, Va./Monticello) paced the Highlanders, hitting a pair of home runs and knocking in three. Her two long balls brought her school record total to 16.
Freshman
Leigh Godfrey (Perth, Australia/Seton Catholic College) recorded a double and finished the season with a 15-game hitting streak and a school-record .469 batting average. Her average was 49 points higher than record holder Melissa Pickel (.420) and she became only the second player to bat .400 in a season and the first since 1996.
Godfrey also registered a hit in 33 of Radford’s final 34 games and reached base safely in all but three contests this season. Her .503 on base percentage also set a new single-season mark.
The teams traded blows in the third, each tallying three runs. The Tar Heels jumped on top 3-0 with a two-out rally. The first run came across on a RBI single Brittany McKinney. Emily Troup launched what at first was a three-run home run to left. However, Troup was out for not touching home plate and the fourth run did not count.
The Highlanders got some two-out magic of their own in the bottom half of the frame. With senior
Jenn Everhart (Purcellville, Va./Loudoun Valley) on second courtesy of a walk and a steal, Godfrey laced a double off the wall in right, plating Everhart. A few pitches later, Shifflett hit a mammoth home run deep into the leftfield trees tying the game.
North Carolina broke it open with a six-run sixth. Lisa Norris and Danielle Spaulding highlighted it with three-run and two-run two-out home runs.
Shifflett went yard for the second time of the game and third of the regional, hitting an opposite shot over the rightcenterfield fence in the sixth, making it 9-4.
Norris earned the victory with 4.1 innings of one-hit, one-run relief. She struck out one and walked one.
The Highlanders finished the season with several records, including 71 home runs a .369 on base percentage and a .535 slugging percentage. The slugging was the first time a Highlander team finished above .500.