Apke Ties Bradley Career HR Record, Illinois St. Drops Two

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Junior Allison Apke (Teutopolis graduate) highlighted a five homer day for Bradley Softball with two dingers as she tied the Bradley career home run record and the Braves topped Tennessee Tech 7-6 and 11-1 to sweep a doubleheader from the Golden Eagles Sunday.

Bradley (11-10 overall) had to rally from a 6-2 deficit to win the opening game 7-6 and used a 10-run fifth inning in the nightcap to take the day’s second game 11-1 in five innings.  Apke tied Alyson Clemente’s (2012-16) school career record of 21 home runs, hitting a homer in each game to help highlight the day which featured four Braves that collected at least three hits.  Bradley pushed its win streak to four straight and is 6-1 in its last seven games after the doubleheader sweep.

Freshman Lucy Mead went 3-for-4 in the day’s first game and wasted no time getting Bradley on the scoreboard as she led off the day with a solo homer in the top of the first of the opener.

A two-out walk in the bottom of the first was followed by a two-run homer by Sydney Love-Baker as Tennessee Tech (8-8 overall) grabbed a 2-1 lead.

Bradley was able to capitalize on a two-out walk of its own in the top half of the second.  Freshman Camryn Monteer kept the inning alive with a two-out free pass and fellow freshman Grace French followed with one of her three hits in the contest to put runners at second and third.  Junior Sydney Young knotted the game at 2-2 with a RBI single through the left side.

Tennessee Tech used a four-run fourth to go back in front 6-2.  The Golden Eagles had the bases loaded with one out thanks to three singles and pushed a run across on a fielder’s choice.  Love-Baker had the big hit of the inning for Tennessee Tech, ripping a three-run triple to right.

The Braves answered with two runs in the top of the fifth, however.  Mead had a one-out single and sophomore Stacia Seeton cut the Tennessee Tech lead to 6-4 with a two-run homer to left.

Bradley would later tie it up again at 6-6 with two runs in the top of the sixth.  Monteer and French got things started for the Braves in the sixth with back-to-back one-out singles.  Mead plated both runners with a two-out single through the right side.

Apke provided the game-winning run in the top of the seventh with a solo homer to lead off the inning as Bradley went in front 7-6.  The Braves threatened to add more later in the inning after loading the bases on singles by Kealia Wysocki, Jillian Navarro and French, but would leave the bases loaded.

Senior Megan Mahaffy, who came on in the fourth, worked around a leadoff single for a scoreless bottom of the seventh to close out her third win of the year.  Mahaffy (3-2) gave up just three hits in 3.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen in relief of starter Emma Jackson.

In the nightcap, French and starter Julie Kestas combined to hold Tennessee Tech to just three hits and the Braves used a 10-run fifth inning to cruise to an 11-1 win.

Bradley struck for the first run of the contest in the top of the second.  Sophomore Taise Thompson singled up the middle to open the inning and scored on a double off the bat of Wysocki.

The Braves threatened again in the top of the fourth after Wysocki, who had four hits on the day, and senior Katie Habryle had back-to-back singles to open the inning.  Bradley wasn’t able to push a run across, however, and took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth.

Tennessee Tech had just one base runner in the first three frames against Kestas, but was finally able to scratch out a run in the bottom of the fourth.  A pair of one-out walks helped lead to a RBI double by Kayla Hughes as the Golden Eagles tied it up at 1-1.  French came on in relief of Kestas to get an inning-ending double play as the teams went to the fifth knotted at 1-1.

Bradley would send 15 batters to the plate during a 10-run top of the fifth which broke the game open.  Mead led off the inning with a single and would score on a Tennessee Tech error on a Seeton single to put the Braves in front 2-1.  Apke ripped her second homer of the day and her sixth of the season with a two-run shot to left as Bradley led 4-1.  A Thompson single and the second Tennessee Tech error of the inning put two runners on for Habryle, who smacked a two-run double to right center.

 With Bradley leading 6-1, Navarro belted a two-run homer to left to make in an 8-1 advantage for the Braves.  A Brooklyn Bane single and walks to Mead and Apke loaded the bases for Thompson, who drove in two more with a single up the middle.  Wysocki capped the scoring with a RBI single to second to give Bradley an 11-1 lead.

French surrendered a two-out single in the bottom of the fifth before she was able to close out the Bradley win with a groundout.  She earned the win in the nightcap by tossing 1.2 scoreless innings as she improved to 3-2 on the year.  Kestas gave up just two hits and one unearned run in 3.1 innings of work.

Bradley will open Missouri Valley Conference play next weekend, kicking off a three-game series against Valparaiso with a noon doubleheader at Petersen Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex.

At Boca Raton

Illinois State dropped a 5-1 decision to Notre Dame Saturday.

Notre Dame tallied two in the third and never dropped behind. Notre Dame had 10 hits in the game while holding Illinois State to four.

Allison Spence led the way for Illinois State with two singles. Teutopolis graduate Kadi Borries was a pinch runner.

In the second game, Illinois State fell to LIU Brooklyn, 5-3. Both teams had eight hits in the contest.

Illinois State scored all three of its runs in the first inning. Borries was again a pinch runner.

Illinois State drops to 5-18 on the season.