LYNCHBURG, Va.- The Randolph softball team returned to its home field on Friday afternoon as it hosted Guilford. The Quakers won the first game 8-1. The second game was tied 6-6 after seven innings and stopped due to darkness.

Guilford got out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. The Quakers added two more runs in the second innings to go up 5-0.

The GC lead grew to 7-0 after the top of the fifth. Randolph looked to get a rally going in their portion of the inning. Kayla Love (Virginia Beach, Va./Tallwood) led off with a single to left field and Chloe Persinger (Buena Vista, Va./Parry Mcclure) followed with a single to right to advance Love to second. After Kylie Stark (Lynchburg, Va./Brookville) flied out, Railey Oetken (Chesapeake, Va./Deep Creek) singled to load the bases. The WildCats' scoring opportunity, however, ended with strikeouts by Dominque Irving (Amherst, Va./Amherst County) and Taylor Friess (Goode, Va./Liberty).

After holding Guilford scoreless in the top of the sixth, Randolph returned to the plate in the bottom half. Allie Jarrett (Virginia Beach,Va./Kellam) was hit by a pitch. A Lexi Hawkins (Lynchburg, Va./Liberty Christian) sacrifice bunt moved Jarrett to second. Paige Naples (Bedford, Va./Liberty) then singled to right field to score Jarrett to make it a 7-1 game. Guilford added a run in the seventh where the score stood at the end of seven.

Jenna St. John (Concord, Va./Appomattox) started in the circle for the WildCats. She pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up six runs (four earned) on 12 hits and walked seven. Braelyn Cooper (Amherst, Va./Amherst County) took the loss as she tossed 1 1/3 innings with two unearned runs given up on one hit. She struck out two Quakers.

Naples, Love, Persinger, and Stark were all 1-for-3 at the plate.

In the second game, Guilford once again got out to a lead with two runs coming home to go up 2-0 going to the bottom of the first inning. Irving led off with a single and advanced to third on a double by Friess. Jarrett's single scored Irving. After Jarrett stole second base, a Naples groundout scored Friess and a Hawkins groundout plated Jarrett as the 'Cats went ahead 3-2.

The score would stay that way until the Randolph fourth. Irving's two-run single scored two runs as the 'Cats upped their lead to 5-2.

Guilford answered in the top of the fifth as Grace Calus tripled down the right field line to score a pair of runs. Calus then scored on a single by Amanda Gillis to tie the game at 5-5. GC took the lead in the sixth 6-5. Randolph got one run in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 6-6.

The Quakers looked to potentially regain the lead in the top of the seventh. Guilford had runners on first and second with no outs. Alli Clemens popped out to shortstop and a Gillis groundout moved runners to second and third. Katie McNeill then grounded out to short to end the GC threat.

Randolph could not get the winning run it needed in the bottom of the seventh as all three batters went down on strikes. With darkness descending, the game was halted. It will officially go down as a tie.

Irving was 4-for4 with two runs batted in a run scored. She also stole a base. Jarrett went 2-for-4 with a run scored, a run batted in, and a stolen base. Stark batted 1-for-1 with a double, two runs scored and a stolen base. 

Emily Morris got the start in the circle for the WildCats. She pitched 4.1 innings giving up five runs (four earned) on eight hits. She walked two and struck out three. Danielle Shannon tossed 2.2 innings gave surrendered just one run on three hits. She walked three and struck out three.

Randolph will host Ferrum on Sunday afternoon. The first game of the doubleheader will begin at 2:00 p.m.