Apke Leads Bradley To Win, Illinois Edges Illinois State

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Junior Allison Apke (Teutopolis) went 3-for-3 with a homer run and was one of three Braves to drive in at least three runs as Bradley Softball earned its seventh consecutive road victory with an 11-1 win over SIU Edwardsville Wednesday afternoon in the final non-conference game of the season.

Bradley (18-13 overall) improved to 13-4 in its last 17 games and matched the longest road win streak in program history at seven with the win.  The last time the Braves won seven consecutive road contests was the final five road games of the 1994 season combined with a doubleheader sweep at Saint Louis early in the 1995 campaign.

In addition to Apke’s 3-for-3 effort, sophomore Taise Thompson was 2-for-4 with four RBI and junior Kealia Wysocki drove in three runs, while going 2-for-2 as the trio combined for seven of Bradley’s 12 hits.

Freshman Grace French started in the circle for the Braves and tossed 3.2 scoreless innings before giving way to Thompson.  French, who also went 1-for-3 with two runs and the first home run of her Bradley career, and Thompson combined to hold SIU Edwardsville (9-15 overall) to four hits.

Bradley wasted little time getting on the scoreboard after freshman Lucy Mead led off the game with a four-pitch walk and sophomore Vicki Zaluske followed with a single.  Apke later drew a two-out walk to load the bases and Wysocki drove in the first two runs of the contest with a single to center as the Braves grabbed an early 2-0 lead.

French worked around a two-out single for a scoreless bottom of the first and then led off a four-run top of the second for Bradley with a four-pitch walk.  Junior Sydney Young followed a pitching change with a bunt single and the Braves eventually loaded the bases with a two-out walk by sophomore Stacia Seeton, who picked up her sixth walk in the last three outings.  Thompson provided the big hit of the inning with a bases-clearing double to left to push Bradley’s lead to 5-0.  Apke drove home Thompson from second with a RBI single to right as the Braves took a 6-0 lead after just an inning and a half of play.

SIU Edwardsville was retired in order in the bottom of the second and another four-run inning for Bradley in the third pushed the advantage to 10-0.  French led off the inning again and this time ripped her first home run as a Brave.  The French homer was Bradley’s 47th of the year, breaking the school season home run record set just last year.

The Braves would add three more runs in the frame, however.  Bradley had a runner at second with two outs for Thompson, who drove in her fourth run of the contest with a single to left.  Apke had an 11-pitch at bat before smacking a run-scoring single to center and Wysocki made it three consecutive two-out RBI singles for the Braves with a single to center.

SIU Edwardsville threatened in the bottom of the third after a one-out Abby Marlow double.  The Cougars stranded Marlow at third as French and the Braves kept SIUE off the scoreboard.

Neither team was able to push a run across in the fourth and Bradley tacked on one more run in the top of the fifth.  Apke belted a one-out solo homer to left to make it an 11-0 advantage for the Braves as she tied Wysocki for the team lead with her eighth homer of the season.

SIUE was able to break up Bradley’s bid for its first shutout of the season with a run in the bottom of the fifth.  Bailley Concatto led off the inning with a single off Thompson, who came on in relief of French early in the fourth.  Pinch runner Janie Smith was able to come around to score on a pinch-hit triple off the bat of Micah Arps to cut the Bradley lead to 11-1.  Thompson settled down to get a fielder’s choice and a pair of groundouts to close out the 11-1 win for the Braves.

French earned the victory for Bradley to improve to 5-3 on the season and she is now 2-1 with a 0.67 ERA in her starts.

The Braves return to action this weekend, hosting Missouri State in a three-game series at Petersen Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex.  The Braves and Bears open the series with a noon doubleheader Saturday.  

Illinois 2, Illinois State 1

CHAMPAIGN  – The Illinois State softball team dropped a heartbreaker to in-state rival Illinois on Wednesday night in its first mid-week contest of the season, falling 2-1 with a seventh-inning rally by the Illini.

 BIRD BITS AT ILLINOIS (L, 2-1)

Top Performers:

Andrea Coursey: 1-for-3, 1 R, 2B

Alyssa Wiebel: 1-for-3

Pitching Breakdown:

Morgan Day: 6.1 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K

BY THE NUMBERS / KEY INNINGS AT ILLINOIS (L, 2-1)

Local product Morgan Day earned her 14th start of the season in the circle, sitting down the Illini in order with three-straight strikeouts to start the game.

An error by Illinois’ shortstop in the top of the second brought Andrea Coursey across home plate, after the sophomore knocked a two-out double against the right center field wall for ISU’s first hit of the game.

The Illini leveled the score at one-all with a lead-off home run over the center field wall in the bottom of the fifth.

 Alyssa Wiebel registered the Redbirds’ second hit of the game in the top of the sixth, bringing a new pitcher to the circle for Illinois with two on and one out.

In the top of the seventh, Taylor Vanderpool drew a lead-off walk – ISU’s fourth free base of the game – and moved into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt laid down by Shannon Felde, before a close play at first ended the top of the frame to keep the game knotted at one-all.

Illinois rallied to hand ISU the 2-1 heartbreaking loss on a single to left field with one out in the final frame.

Teutopolis High School gradaute Kadi Borries pinch ran for Illinois State.

ON DECK

Illinois State will play its first home series of 2019 this weekend when it hosts Missouri Valley Conference opponent UNI at Marian Kneer Stadium.