PEORIA, Ill. – Missouri State softball dropped both games of its doubleheader against Bradley here Saturday afternoon as the Bears suffered their first three-game setback of Missouri Valley Conference play.
After coming out on the wrong end of a back-and-forth contest yesterday in the series opener, the Bears (16-13, 7-4 MVC) were shut out 4-0 in game one before falling in the nightcap, 4-1. The Braves (12-10, 5-4 MVC) were picked up by high-quality outings from their pitching staff to complete a three-game sweep of MSU.
“We are definitely disappointed with how the weekend went, especially after coming off such a great stretch last week,” said head coach Holly Hesse. “It just shows how challenging our league is and how important it is to be focused and prepared for every game.”
Game 1
BU 5, Bears 0
Bradley’s Camryn Schaller (2-0) cooled off a Missouri State squad that was outscoring league opponents, 46-25 entering today’s games as she became the first Valley pitcher to blank the Bears. She held MSU to four hits and faced the minimum in all but two innings of her complete-game effort.
Back-to-back slap-hit singles sparked the home squad’s two-run inning in the third before a bunt from Avry Blume kept a spinning ball on the fair side of the chalk. The small-ball play allowed both runners to come around to score after an errant throw trying to nab Blume at first skipped to the outfield and gave the Braves a 2-0 lead.
Payton Minnis opened up the top of the fourth in identical fashion to the run-scoring efforts from the Braves in the previous frame. She reached on a well-placed bunt single and then raced to second after triggering a BU miscue on the throw.
With Minnis at second, the Bears looked to carry over their aggressive base running from yesterday’s game where MSU runners were a perfect 4-4 on stolen bases, but BU catcher Jordy Van der Werf cut down Minnis trying to swipe third to halt one of the few scoring chances for Missouri State in the contest.
The Braves extended their favor in the home half of the fourth courtesy of Lucy Mead whose fly ball to left field picked up a boost from the blustery wind conditions in Peoria and sailed over the head of a charging Metter, rolling to the corner of the outfield to allow Mead and both Bradley runners in front of her to score on the inside-the-park home run.
Eyeing a late-game rally, the Bears strung together consecutive hits in the sixth with Plummer extending her five-game hitting streak before beating the throw at second on an infield hit from Minnis in the following at-bat.
However, Schaller worked herself out of the jam by inducing a groundout to leave the inning unscathed before going on to retire the Bears in order in the top of the seventh to cap her shutout performance.
Gracie Johnston pitched 2.2 innings of scoreless relief after entering for starter Madison Hunsaker (6-3) in Bradley’s three-run fourth inning. Hunsaker was tagged for three earned runs and struck out four in her 10th start of the season.
Minnis, who made her third and fourth starts of 2021 in today’s doubleheader after recently recovering from an offseason injury, recorded her second multi-hit outing after collecting two of MSU’s four hits in the contest. Annie Mueller tallied the second double of her freshman campaign with an extra-base knock in the third.
For just the second time this season, the Bears were held without a walk in the game. MSU came into today with 97 walks which ranked fourth-best in the MVC.
Game 2
BU 4, Bears 1
Looking to erase the sour taste left from game one, Hunsaker drove in the Bears’ lone run of the day in the top of the second as she smacked a pitch to the gap in left center to bring Tess Weakly around to score.
Metter’s ensuing single seemed to make way for more runs to come around in the frame, but a hard-hit liner off the bat of Mueller was snagged by the BU third baseman who then stepped on the bag to double-up the Bears and hold the lead at 1-0 in favor of MSU.
Grace French recorded Bradley’s second inside-the-park home run of the day in the bottom of the second to draw the game even. A diving attempt from Mueller in right field resulted in another BU fly ball rolling to the wall and allowing French to run around the bases.
The Braves took the lead in the third after registering three hits against Dickerson with back-to-back two-out RBIs, one of which came on another BU extra-base hit with Stacia Seeton’s triple pushing the home side out in front, 3-1.
In the top of the fourth, the Bears mounted another threat with Krehbiel leading things off with a single back up the middle. Later in the inning, Weakly added another base knock to put runners at first and second with one out, but the opportunity would falter as Radford produced a pair of fly outs to escape the inning.
A stolen base from Mead at third led to a fourth Braves run in the top of the fifth as she raced home following the throwing error.
Metter drew a leadoff walk in the seventh, hoping to spring a rally out of the Bears dugout before BU reliever Raegan Branon recorded three straight outs to seal the series finale victory.
Krehbiel went 2-3 at the dish for her fourth two-hit outing of the year while Hunsaker bagged her team-best 16th RBI.
Johnston made her second relief appearance of the day in the sixth inning, coming on for starter Steffany Dickerson (7-7) who tossed the first five frames.
Missouri State continues the road trek with a single-game matchup at Arkansas on April 6 at 5 p.m.
