By ISU Sports Information
NORMAL – The Illinois State softball team split a doubleheader against Bradley Tuesday at Marian Kneer Stadium in front of a record crowd of 1,050 people.
The Redbirds lost game one, 4-1, on a walk off home run in the bottom of the seventh, before defeating the Braves 11-3 in six innings in game two.
The Redbirds (16-29, 8-11 MVC) will take on Drake in a three-game series this weekend at Marian Kneer Stadium.
Game 1: Bradley 4 – Illinois State 1
Bradley entered game one as the home team due to the game being a makeup of last Thursday’s rainout, which was scheduled to be played in Peoria.
A pitcher’s duel from the start, Regan Romshek and Bradley’s Jaelen Hull battled through four scoreless innings. Both teams put multiple runners on base in the first inning, but stranded them there. In the top of the third, the Redbirds also left runners at second and third after a Shannon Felde single and an Annie Heineman double. On the defensive side of the ball, Romshek allowed a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second, but retired the next six batters to get through the third inning.
Both teams went quietly in the fourth, before Bradley struck first in the bottom of the fifth inning. After Gabby Stoner reached on a dropped fly ball error, Kelly Kapp reached on a fielder’s choice. Erika Hansen then stepped to the plate and doubled to left-center field to score the game’s first run.
ISU quickly answered back in the top of the sixth thanks to a pair of Bradley errors. Romshek reached on a throwing error and then Jordan de los Reyes reached on a dropped fly ball in right field. The dropped fly ball allowed Romshek to move to third. With one out and runners on the corners, Allison Spence hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Romshek.
Romshek held Bradley in the sixth and Illinois State left a runner on in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the frame, Kapp singled with one out and Hansen reached on a fielding error. After the second out was recorded, Rachel Huggins stepped to the plate and belted a three-run walk off home run over the right-center field fence to win the game, 4-1.
Romshek pitched 6.2 innings and allowed six hits and four unearned runs. She struck out three and walked three, while falling to 6-8 on the season.
At the plate, Felde and Heineman recorded the only hits for the Redbirds. ISU left six runners on base, while Bradley left seven.
Game 2: Illinois State 11 – Bradley 3 (6 innings)
Game two was a completely different story from game one as the Illinois State offense thrived. After Sarah Finck worked a perfect top of the first inning, the Redbirds wasted no time jumping out to an early lead.
Annie Heineman reached on an error to start the inning and Regan Romshek doubled to put runners at second and third. Riley Strandgard then singled to drive in Heineman, giving the Redbirds a 1-0 lead. On the next pitch, Strandgard took a large lead off of first and drew a throw, which resulted in her getting in a pickle between first and second. While in the pickle, Romshek took off from third and scored. The distraction also allowed Strandgard to move into second safely. Payton Billups later doubled to score Strandgard and give ISU a 3-0 lead.
In the second inning, ISU put up another three spot. Lauren Prader, Finck and Heineman led off the inning with three-straight singles, and Romshek hit a sacrifice fly to score Prader. Later in the inning, Strandgard singled in another run, while Felde lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score the third run of the frame.
Finck worked another perfect inning in the third, but ran into trouble in the fourth. After throwing 3.2 innings of no-hit ball, Maria Schroeder doubled to record the first hit off of Finck. Elizabeth Leonard followed with a single before Katie Habryle launched a three-run home run to cut the lead in half.
The home run would be the only trouble Finck would run into. In the bottom of the fifth, she got the three runs back by herself, hitting a three-run home run to right field. The home run was her third of the season, and scored Billups and Prader.
The Redbirds tacked on two more in the sixth to win the game by run-rule and avoid the sweep.
Finck pitched six innings and allowed six hits and three earned runs, while allowing five strikeouts and one walk. At the plate, she was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Strandgard finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Seven Redbirds recorded a hit and six of the seven recorded multiple hits in the game.
