VALPARAISO, IN – The Bradley Braves Softball team split the final two games of the series against the Beacons in the final set of road games of the regular season.
Game 2
In the second game of the series, the first of the doubleheader, the Braves earned a 5-2 victory. Through the first five innings, neither team scored a run. The top of the sixth inning started with the Beacons' left fielder dropping a fly ball, getting senior
Kierston McCoy all the way to third base. Sophomore
Morgan Schlosser was up next and singled. With two runners on, senior
Austin Comstock cleared the bases with a triple, the second triple of the season for Comstock and 10th for her team. Senior
Ashley Breeding singled the next at bat to bring Comstock home and give the Braves a 3-0 lead. Sophomore
Emily Organ hit a two-RBI single with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, giving Bradley a 5-1 lead.
Organ and Comstock each ended the first contest of the day with a pair of RBIs. Schlosser went 3-4 in the second game of the series, as Organ was the only other Brave with a multi-hit day, going 2-4. The Braves out-hit the Beacons, 10-8. Senior
Kinsley Robertson threw the first 6.1 innings for Bradley. She recorded a pair of strikeouts and just one walk in her outing. Freshman
Gianna Hillegonds entered the contest in the bottom of the seventh inning and worked a save, the first in her collegiate career and the first for Bradley's pitching staff on the season.
Game 3
On the second game of the day, Bradley lost the series grudge match 6-4 off a walk-off home run by the Beacons in the seventh inning. Junior
Ella Shafer started the fifth frame with a single, yet two outs followed the leadoff hitter. Schlosser reached first off a throwing error from Valpo's pitcher. With runners on first and second, Comstock hit a three-run, no-doubter over the right-center field wall. This was Comstock's eighth home run of the season. Bradley tied the game at four off a double to right-center by McCoy, her 19th double on the season. McCoy is now two doubles away from tying both the single-season and career doubles records in Bradley Softball program history.
Comstock finished the doubleheader with five total RBIs. Senior
Brynna Seitz and McCoy each went 2-4 in the final game of the weekend. The Braves worked five walks, Breeding earning two. Sophomore
Abby Rusher threw the first six frames of the day for Bradley. Despite losing by two runs, the Braves and Beacons each had seven hits. She earned a pair of strikeouts with only two earned runs.
Up Next...
The Braves will host the University of Northern Iowa for their first home midweek games of the season. The doubleheader begins at 2 p.m. CT. at OSF Healthcare Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex on Tuesday, April 28th.
