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Virginia eyes rebound at Radford

After disastrous doubleheader against Georgia Tech, squad faces stellar Highlander pitching staff

After a debacle of a doubleheader against Georgia Tech at home this past weekend, the Virginia softball team travels to Radford this afternoon for a doubleheader to begin its season-ending, seven-game road trip. Virginia (21-25, 4-12 ACC) looks to rebound from the two-game set which saw the Yellow Jackets rack up 17 runs and hold Virginia scoreless for the first 12 innings of the two contests.

"We didn't really handle our game plan very well," coach Eileen Schmidt said after the Saturday games. "I thought we took a lot of good pitches against [Georgia Tech freshman pitcher Lindsey] Anderson and swung at some stuff that we didn't need to."

In contrast, Big South conference leader Radford (31-14, 12-2) seeks revenge for the sweep it suffered against Virginia last season. The Highlanders welcome Virginia after winning 10 of their last 12 games, though one of those losses came against Virginia Tech, a team the Cavaliers took two of three against April 15-16.

"[Radford is] one of the better teams in the Big South, if not the best team," Schmidt said. "They always swing the bat well, [coach Mickey Dean] does a good job pitching wise, so certainly it'll be a tough test ... We'll just have to regroup on Tuesday and get after it."

Radford's pitching certainly has been a strong suit for the club thus far. The Highlanders' three elite starters - sophomore pitcher Jackie Jenkins, freshman pitcher Stephanie Dameron and senior pitcher Chelsea Kelley, a Lowe's Senior Class Award Finalist - each boast ERAs under 4.00. Jenkins, a four-time Big South Pitcher of the Week this season, leads the group with a 1.08 ERA through 116.2 innings.

Although the Highlanders's pitching staff constitutes the core challenge for Virginia, the burden of "driving all the way down there for a doubleheader" also adds to the Cavaliers' concerns, Schmidt said. This will be Virginia's first midweek doubleheader away from Charlottesville this season. Virginia nevertheless plans to remain positive and focused on the one thing which really matters - winning the games.

"We're usually not affected by stuff," junior shortstop Kennedy Byxbee said. "We always say, 'Control the controllables,' so things we can't control we don't really let get to us, we just stick to our game and try and ignore things that may be a little frustrating that we can't control."

Despite the strength of Radford and the Cavaliers' disappointing showing thus far this season, Virginia enters the doubleheader with plenty of motivation. After Radford, Virginia plays just five more games - a three-game series against ACC foe N.C. State this weekend and a doubleheader at Liberty the following Tuesday - before heading to Atlanta for the ACC Tournament, The team has precious little time to make one last statement this season.

"I think it's perfect to get our momentum when we get to Radford," Byxbee said. "We're going to play our game and get two wins out of that, and it'll lead us into N.C. State next weekend ... It'll be perfect momentum into the ACC Tournament"

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