It has been a long road trip for the Virginia softball team and it finally ends today. The Cavaliers head down to Radford University today for a doubleheader to finish up the 29 consecutive road games that began their season.
The Cavaliers have experienced ups and downs throughout the long stretch of road games, games that appear to have slowly worn Virginia down.
Virginia (8-19, 0-3) was 3-2 in its first part of the road trip, a tournament in Tampa, Fla. It followed up that tournament with 2-3 and 2-4 showings in tournaments in Tucson, Ariz. and Palm Springs, Calif., respectively.
Virginia was 1-7 during the week of Spring Break, which included a tournament in Jacksonville, Fla. and a doubleheader at East Carolina. More recently, Virginia was swept by a powerful North Carolina team in Chapel Hill last weekend.
The road trip does not end with any easy task as Radford (21-14), a Big South Conference team, creates its own set of problems and challenges for the Cavaliers.
"[Radford] has exceptional team speed and an excellent pitcher," Virginia coach Karen Johns said. "They've won a lot of games already. It's going to be a real challenge for us to go down there and take a couple of games away from them."
The excellent pitcher Johns speaks of is senior Breanna Felix, who is 12-3 on the season.
The Cavaliers experienced trouble with Radford's pitching last year.
The Highlanders "have some good pitchers," said Amy McKean, senior first baseman and catcher. "Their pitchers shut us down last year, so we'll be looking to hit better."
Offensively, the Highlanders are led by junior outfielder Ashley Carlson, who is performing very well this year with a .417 batting average.
The Highlanders also have two other players hitting above .300 in freshman catcher Sarah Himan (.354) and junior utility player Cassie Rhodes (.327). Rhodes also leads the team in home runs with three this season.
Virginia, will need to have a solid effort in its offense, defense and pitching to win.
The Cavaliers' leading hitter is still freshman first baseman Kelly Haller (.405), who has been impressive this season.
Senior first baseman and outfielder Brooke Sorber, who had a strong weekend at North Carolina with four hits, is now batting .310.
The Cavaliers have faced a tougher schedule this season, playing ranked teams such as No. 3 Arizona, No. 22 Fresno State, No. 6 Oregon State and No. 13 Michigan. Virginia is 1-4 in those games, with the win coming against Fresno State 10-9 in eight innings.
The Highlanders have only played one ranked team, No. 5 Alabama twice, losing both games by scores of 4-1 and 6-0.
Virginia will be the third ACC team Radford will have played already this year. The Highlanders are 0-3 against the ACC, having lost to Florida State 2-1 and Virginia Tech in a doubleheader, 1-0 and 3-2.
The Cavaliers, on a five-game losing streak, will be scrappy against Radford.
"Radford has always played us hard in the past and we are looking for some wins now so we will play them hard," McKean said.
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