The Lady Highlanders opened play Thursday as the conference's second seed facing seventh-seeded Charleston Southern. After the game was over, many fans probably wondered if the Lady Buccaneers were actually present at Dedmon Center Park or if a bunch of scrubs dressed up in CSU garb and took the field.

The reason why is because Radford pummeled the Lady Bucs, winning 12-0.

Sophomore Ashley Taylor picked up the win to improve her record on the season to 18-8 after allowing only four hits and two walks over five innings while striking out five.

Taylor also led the Radford offense from the cleanup spot with a home run and three RBI on three hits while scoring twice. Also going long for the Lady Highlanders were second baseman Jenn Everhart and Morgan Nicholas, who came into the game as a pinch-hitter for center fielder Ashley Carlson. For the game, Everhart had two hits and 3 RBI with a run scored while Nicholas' homer was her only hit in two plate appearances.

Catcher Amanda Walling scored three times and scattered two hits.

The offense struck early, plating four runs with two outs in the first inning on the homer by Taylor that drove in Walling, who reached on a fielder's choice. Sophomore Cassie Rhodes doubled in the next at-bat and came home on an RBI single by senior Danielle Tompkins, who later scored on an error by the Lady Bucs that allowed freshman Anne Tatum to get on base.

Taylor, who set a new school record for shutouts in a season against the Lady Bucs with her ninth of the season, picked up another win later in the day against Liberty as Radford rallied to defeat the third-seeded Lady Flames, 7-4.

Despite Taylor throwing four innings of shutout relief of starter Breanna Felix, it was Everhart who played the part of the hero for the Lady Highlanders as she belted a grand slam in the middle of a five-run fourth inning.

Carlson came into score in the first inning on a two-run single by Rhodes that drove in the sophomore and Taylor, who started the game as the designated hitter. She also stole her 20th base of the season, the fifth most collected by a Radford player in a single season. It also moved her into a tie for fifth place on the university's list of career stolen bases with 33.

Felix, who struck out two batters to break her single-season record of 204 K's, took the mound and yielded three home runs and the lead in short-lived three innings appearance. The first long ball came in the form of a solo shot by Liberty's Ashley Williams in the second inning and the second was a two-run shot launched off the bat of Jessica Moore, giving Liberty a 3-2 lead.

It was a leadoff homer by Shannon McKain that forced skipper Amy Kvilhaug to pull Felix and send in Taylor, who retired the next three batters to get out of the inning.

Radford's five-run fourth inning started with a walk, fielder's choice and an infield single before Everhart went deep on a 3-2 pitch to clear the bases. The fifth run of the inning came on a solo shot by Tatum over right centerfield.

It was all in the hands of Taylor from there on as she struck out seven batters after yielding a leadoff walk in the fifth.

The win improved Radford to 39-20 on the season and set up a matchup with top-seeded Coastal Carolina earlier today. Unlike the previous two games, Radford's bats were silenced by an impressive pitching performance by CCU's Christine Doyle, who scattered four hits over seven innings while punching out three Radford batters.

Taylor, who started the game for the Lady Highlanders, surrendered one run on five hits over six innings to take a complete game loss and fall to 19-9 on the season. She also struck out six Chanticleer batters to go with two walks.

The game went by quickly, elapsing less than an hour and a half as both pitchers pitched admirably.

Coastal Carolina used a three-hit inning in the second to plate what ended up being the game-winning run. CCU's Glynn Tolleson crossed home plate on a two-out RBI single by Sara Hostetler. Tolleson reached on a fielder's choice that sent Kristina Sheppard, who reached on a bloop single, back to the dugout. Freshman third baseman Alex Roderick nearly stopped the ball hit by Hostetler but it was seconds too late and the ball grazed past the bag and into the outfield.

Radford was in a position to put a run on the board in the first inning after Carlson lead off with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a single by Walling but she was unable to reach home plate as the Lady Highlanders grounded out twice to begin a series of 12 straight batters retired by the CCU starter.

Despite the loss, Radford is still in a position to play Coastal again if the Lady Highs defeat Liberty in an 11 a.m. contest Saturday. The winner of the that game will move on to play the Lady Chants at 1 p.m.

If Coastal Carolina wins, the Lady Chanticleers will become Big South Champions but if Radford or Liberty wins that contest, there will be a second game between the two teams at 3 p.m.

The winner of that game will be crowned the champion of the Big South Conference.

As always, anyone still in the area is advised to stop by and cheer on the Lady Highlanders in this key moment in the season.

(Photos taken by Blake Fought - May 12, 2006)