The Virginia softball team squares off against Radford today, holding onto its second-place ACC ranking as postseason play quickly approaches. But the team, facing a Radford squad that has won three straight contests against the Cavaliers (27-18, 9-5 ACC), is looking to take things in stride.
"We talk about Regionals, but we talk about getting there game-by-game," senior third baseman Abby Snyder said. "We take it step by step and one game at a time."
Radford's pitching staff has excelled for the team this season. Junior pitcher Chelsea Kelley leads the team with 17 wins and a 3.35 ERA. The Highlanders (29-10, 14-1 Big South) won the Big South Softball Championship in 2009 and are leading their conference again this season.
"We need to get people on base and move people over and do the little things right," coach Eileen Schmidt said. "When we go up there and don't follow the game plan, then we get in trouble."
Senior right fielder Sarah Tacke leads the Cavaliers offensively, batting .381 with 35 RBIs on the year. But the rest of the team has struggled as of late, scoring only five runs in its series against N.C. State last weekend.
"We all know that our offense needs to come alive much earlier in the game," senior pitcher Nicole Koren said. "We're making pretty good contact but we're unfortunately getting unlucky with where we're hitting it. We need to start jumping on the pitchers earlier to lead into Boston College."
In contrast to Virginia's recent hitting woes, Radford's bats have been electric. Junior outfielder Shannon Keefe paces the team with a .407 average and senior catcher Sarah Himan is batting .400 with seven home runs and 33 RBIs. The Highlanders are hitting .326 as a team, trumping Virginia's .254 mark.
To prevail against such a potent offensive attack, Virginia will look to focus on the task at hand.
"Our whole thing is going for it every game, and coming out to play every game," Snyder said. "When we do that, we win"
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