Taming the Vols
Have you ever had one of those cases where a loss felt just about as good as a win? I know that probably sounds crazy, but just stay with me for a bit here. As I mentioned back on Monday, last night the Radford Highlander Softball team faced off against the Tennessee Volunteers. If you are thinking wait, isn't the UT softball team ranked something like 8th in the nation right now, you would be absolutely right.
I think a lot of people expected an absolute blood bath last night, but I as well as many others were happy to find that wasn't the case. No, Radford didn't win the game, but they only gave up two runs to an SEC powerhouse team that was on a six game winning streak before their loss to Duke just a week ago.
On top of that, The Highlanders were able to score a run of their own and for a hot second it looked like they might have a chance to tie the game up. With a final score of 2 to 1 in favor of Tennessee, all it would have taken was one good knock in the top of the seventh inning to knot things up and give Radford a chance at the win.
Additionally, our niece was given the chance to pinch hit in the game. How often do you get to say you faced off against a pitcher from the number 8 team in the nation? Pretty cool right?
To make things even better, she was able to draw a walk which is something she honestly excels at. She has a really good feel for balls and strikes and she has a tendency to draw walks more than she hits lately. Which is good because she is fast, so any chance you can to get her on base is a plus for the team.
For some reason last night the Radford coach didn't throw his ace pitcher. I don't know if he just wanted to give other players a chance in a non conference game that doesn't really mean anything or what. @mrsbozz thinks it was because he didn't want Tennessee to see how good she is and try to steal her away via the transfer portal. Personally, I am not sure that was actually the case, but crazier things have happened.
My guess is they have a couple big series coming up in the next week or so and he wanted to keep her fresh for that. Those series will determine whether they make it to the conference tournament or not and a potential bid as the conference champion.
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