Highlanders Survive Miscues to Advance

Rock Hill, S.C. -- Second-seeded Radford survived a season-high five errors as it defeated seventh- seeded Charleston Southern in the first round of the Big South Softball Championship, 5-2. The Highlanders, highlighted by Ashley Smith's two-run home run, scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to advance to play the sixth seed Texas A&M Corpus-Christi at 7:15 p.m. tonight. The Islanders defeated third seed Liberty, 1-0.

Each team benefited from errors to score their first run of the game. The Highlanders took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third when CSU pitcher Dana Jacobs made an errant throw to third allowing Donita Brady to score the first run of the game. The Bucs knotted the score at one when Katy McKay came home when Smith misplayed a single by Kerry Graham.

In the fifth, CSU took a 2-1 lead on an RBI single by Kelly Backert. Smith made up for her error later in the inning when she gunned down Dorothy Page at the plate, trying to tag. Radford responded in the bottom half of the fifth on a two-out RBI single by Lindsay Woody.

In the sixth, Smith put the Highlanders up 4-2 with her seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot to center. The Highlanders added a run with two outs when Tina Rogers scored from third when an errant pickoff throw to second base was offline.

Box Score