For immediate release – 2/19/2016 - #198
Glavé Ends First Game with a Homer, as WildCats Split Opening Series

LYNCHBURG, VA – After having its season opener postponed due to freezing temperatures, the Randolph College softball team finally started its season on Friday afternoon, splitting the doubleheader with Greensboro College.  Hunter Glavé ended the first game with a mercy rule homerun in the sixth, putting the score at 11-3.  The Pride won the second game 11-10, scoring in the seventh.

The 'Cats started the season on the right foot, as Dianne Davis doubled in Rebecca Montgomery and Jessica Nowak in the first inning of game one.  The WildCats would keep that momentum and score in all six innings.

Rachel Hickman was the first to do damage in the bottom of the second.  She knocked in Ashley Dudding with a single to left center.  Two batters later, Montgomery singled the other way to knock in Hickman and Ki Jenkins, who was on second after singling and being forced to second. 

GC got on the board in the third, but Rachel Lee responded with an RBI in the bottom of the third, scoring Haley Brickles on a groundout.  Davis then added to her RBI count in the fourth, once again sending Nowak home and this time Jenkins, putting the score at 8-1.  However, Greensboro scored twice in the following inning, as Sarah Tompkins singled in one runner.

The WildCats responded with one in the fifth as Nowak hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded.  Glavé scored after hitting a pinch-hit single earlier in the frame.  After a scoreless top six, Dudding singled with two outs.  Glavé followed it with a bomb to right center to seal the 11-3 win.

Hannah Winfree allowed only one run in four innings to get the victory.

The second game provided more hitting on both sides.  GC started out the nightcap with three runs in the first.  Allyson Yeager doubled to left center, driving in two, before Tompkins drove her home in the next at-bat.  The WildCats responded with two of their own in the bottom half.  The bases were loaded, with all three runners reaching by different means.  After a wild pitch, Nowak and Montgomery both touched home.

Randolph kept GC off the scoreboard over the next three innings, as the defense worked well behind starter Gracyn Allen-Ingle.  The pitcher crossed the plate in the second after she led the inning off with a single.  Jordyn Knapp gave the WildCats the lead in bottom of the third with a two-run double.

Following a scoreless inning on both sides in the fourth, the Pride tallied three in the fifth, to retake the lead, 6-5.  Madison Crisco and Tompkins had the RBI.  The 'Cats were once again held off of the board in the fifth, and the visitors took advantage in the top of the sixth.  Yeager picked up an RBI, while Tompkins added two with a single up the middle.  Yeager then scored following a wild pitch to put the lead at 10-5.

Randolph continued to fight and erupted in the sixth.  Hickman led off the inning, singling through the left side.  Following an error, Nowak knocked Hickman in.  Glavé followed Nowak with a single to center and Jenkins crossed the plate.  Brittany Campbell doubled in both Glavé and Nowak to bring the 'Cats within a run.  Dudding then hit a hard shot at the shortstop, which was mishandled, but it allowed Campbell to score and tie the game at 10.

However, in the top of the seventh, with a runner on second, Brittainy Rush hit a shot to the warning track and the runner scored.  Randolph had a chance in the bottom half, as there were two runners on and two outs, but Maddy Wetherholt sealed the win.

Tompkins tallied six total RBI for the Pride (1-1 overall).  Glavé finished the day hitting 4-6 with three runs batted in.  The WildCats combined for 24 hits between the doubleheader.

Randolph (1-1) will stay at home for its next twinbill.  The 'Cats host Averett University on Wednesday, with the first pitch set for 1 p.m.

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