Buena Vista, Va. — The Southern Virginia University softball team split a doubleheader with the Wildcats of Randolph College, earning a dominant 12–1 victory in game one before falling in extra innings, 3–2, in game two.
Game One – Southern Virginia 12, Randolph 1
Randolph struck first, using aggressive baserunning with four stolen bases in the opening inning to score the game's first run. The Knights quickly responded in the second inning when Mattison Christensen launched a grand slam to left field, igniting Southern Virginia's offense.
The Knights broke the game open in the third inning. Emmaline DeGroot led off with a single before Morgan Rich and Kyleigh Staton delivered back-to-back doubles to start the scoring. Christensen continued her strong day at the plate with an RBI single to left, and Staton later scored on a wild pitch. Eliza Patterson kept the rally going with a single before Berkeley Whitten capped the inning with a three-run home run to center field, giving the Knights the 12–1 victory.
DeGroot earned the win in the circle, tossing five innings while allowing just one run.
Game Two – Randolph 3, Southern Virginia 2 (8 innings)
The second game began as a pitchers' duel, with neither team recording a hit through the first three innings.
Southern Virginia broke through in the fourth inning when Sophia Badell singled up the middle. Kayla Littleford entered as a pinch runner and advanced on consecutive sacrifice bunts from Staton and Taelor Ware before scoring to give the Knights a 1–0 lead.
Randolph answered in the sixth inning, tying the game on a suicide squeeze to send the contest into extra innings.
In the eighth, the Wildcats capitalized on the international tiebreaker rule with a leadoff double that scored the placed runner. Randolph later added another run on a sacrifice fly to take a 3–1 lead.
The Knights mounted a final push in the bottom of the inning as Makenzie Grose singled to left to score the placed runner, but Southern Virginia came up just short, falling 3–2.
Marni Bianchi, Annabelle Cossa, and Ware combined for eight innings in the circle, allowing just seven hits in the hard-fought contest.
Southern Virginia wraps up its season-opening 10-game homestand and now travels to compete in the Cross Bay Bash hosted by Virginia Wesleyan University beginning Friday, March 13 at 11:00 a.m., with four games scheduled over the weekend.
For the most up-to-date information regarding Southern Virginia University softball, visit
knightathletics.com and follow @knight_softball on Instagram.
