Bradley Advances In MVC Tourney, Illinois State Season Ends

PEORIA, Ill. -- The fourth-seeded Bradley softball team earned a 4-0 victory over Indiana State Thursday at Peterson Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Complex, advancing to Friday's semifinal. The Braves improve to 29-20 with the victory, while Indiana State sees its season end with an 18-35 record.
 
Bradley struck early in the game with three runs in the first two innings and never looked back thanks to a shutout performance from Julie Kestas in the circle. The senior pitched the first shutout by a Brave in the conference tournament since winning the 2009 title 10 years ago to the day. She yielded just six hits in seven innings of work, striking out three with zero walks for her eighth win of the season.
 
The Braves plated one runner in the bottom of the first when Taise Thompson drew a hit by pitch with the bases loaded. Bradley then added a pair of two-out runs in the second inning when Allison Apke and Thompson delivered for a 3-0 BU advantage.

Kestas would take it from there and would only allow four baserunners in the final five innings to preserve the victory. Bradley added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth when Jillian Navarro drove in Stacia Seeton with a sacrifice fly for the 4-0 final score.

Allison Apke (Teutopolis) had a single for Bradley and drove in a run.
 
Bradley continues its quest for a Missouri Valley Championship on Saturday with a matchup against top-seeded and nationally-ranked Drake on Friday. The Braves and 25th-ranked Bulldogs are set to meet in Peoria with an 11 a.m. first pitch.

Redbirds Season Comes To Close

PEORIA, Ill. – Sophomore Morgan Day tossed a career-high 12 strikeouts to help No. 6 seed Illinois State win its fifth-straight game Thursday afternoon, taking down No. 10 seed Valparaiso, 4-1, in its first outing at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship.

BIRD BITS VS. VALPARAISO (W, 4-1)

Top Performers:

Shannon Felde: 2-for-3, 2 R, 1 BB
Allison Spence: 1-for-2, R, RBI, BB
Alyssa Wiebel: 1-for-3, 2 RBI
 
Pitching Breakdown:

Morgan Day: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 12 K
 
BY THE NUMBERS / KEY INNINGS VS. VALPARAISO (W, 4-1)

Second team all-conference performer Morgan Day picked up where she left off in the circle against the Crusaders, fanning four batters in the first two innings to have a total of 15 strikeouts in the last nine innings versus Valpo.

Allison Spence dropped a single into center field to send Shannon Felde charging across home plate in the bottom of the opening frame to help ISU hold an early 1-0 lead.
Day struck out the side in the fourth for eight strikeouts in the game, extending her strikeout total to 26 in the last 18 innings against Valpo.

Back-to-back singles by Alyssa Wiebel and Ellie Weltha drove in three runs to push ISU out to a 4-0 advantage in the bottom of the fifth.

Valparaiso lifted a solo home run over the left field wall to cut into the Redbirds’ lead in the sixth, but Day escaped the inning with her 10th strikeout.

Day tossed two more batters in the seventh to finish with 12 strikeouts in the game – the second-most recorded by a Redbird in a single game in the last 15 seasons.

All nine batters in No. 6 seeded Illinois State’s lineup tallied at least one hit Thursday night, but No. 3 seeded UNI put the Redbirds’ season to an end with a 7-2 victory at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship.

Sophomore pitcher Morgan Day finished the day with 17 strikeouts, tossing five in ISU’s match-up with the Panthers.

BIRD BITS VS. UNI (L, 7-2)

Top Performers:

Andrea Coursey: 2-for-3, R, RBI
Taylor Vanderpool: 1-for-2, RBI

Pitching Breakdown:

Morgan Day: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 5 BB, 5 K
Shannon Felde: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
 
BY THE NUMBERS / KEY INNINGS VS. UNI (L, 7-2)

UNI walked in a run with bases loaded, but Morgan Day delivered back-to-back strikeouts to escape the jam in the opening inning.

Taylor Vanderpool singled to the Panther shortstop with two outs to send pinch runner Michele Calabrese charging across home plate to knot the game at one-all in the home half of the first.

The Panthers added two runs in the fourth, and four runs in the fifth, to hold a 7-1 advantage over ISU.
Andrea Coursey launched a solo home run over the left field wall to lead off the sixth inning, bringing the Redbirds within five, but the Panthers fought off ISU’s comeback to take the game, 7-2.

Teutopolis graduate Kadi Borries came in for Illinois State but did not get an at-bat.