PEORIA, Ill. -- Creighton rallied for a run in the seventh and Beth Ramsey legged out an inside the park home run to lead the Bluejays to a 2-1 eight-inning victory in the opener of a Missouri Valley Conference doubleheader, but Bradley kept its tournament hopes alive with a 5-3 win in the nightcap.

Senior Brittany Dehler had one of her best outings of the season in the opener, but Creighton pushed two late runs across to steal the win. Bradley (25-22 overall, 10-12 MVC) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI double by senior Joanna Pettit.

Dehler took a perfect game into the fifth inning before surrendering a pair of singles, but managed to keep the Bluejays (21-25 overall, 9-13 MVC) off the scoreboard until the seventh inning. Jessica German reached on an error to open the inning and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and groundout. Jessica Wakasugi tied the game at 1-1 when she legged out an infield single that scored German from third base.

Stephanie Cortese retired the Braves in order in the bottom of the seventh, forcing extra inning. Ramsey hit a ball down the right field line that scooted past a diving Bethany Till and rolled to the right field corner, allowing Ramsey to circle the bases with her first homer of the season and give Creighton a 2-1 lead.

Dehler (7-8) suffered the loss for the Braves, striking out six and walking two, while surrendering two runs (one earned) and six hits in eight innings of work.

After the loss in the opener, Bradley was in a must-win situation in the nightcap in order to keep the team's hopes of advancing to next week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament alive.

The Braves jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Trish Kowalewski singled to lead off the inning and Christine Cooney was hit by a pitch. A pair of walks to Kim Dobill and Emily Bergeson pushed one run across and Molly Bergeson followed with a double down the left field line that scored two more runs. Pettit drew a two-out walk to load the bases and Emily Bergeson later scored on a wild pitch giving Bradley a 4-0 advantage.

Creighton got one run back in he third inning on a bases loaded RBI groundout by Jamie Reiss. The Braves scored one run in their half of the third inning on an RBI single by Elizabeth Wilson.

The Bluejays clawed back into the game with single runs in the fourth and fifth to pull to within two runs, but Ashley Birdsong settled down and held on for her team-leading 16th victory of the season. Catilin Marcano ripped an RBI double in the fourth inning and Lauren Cisneros belted a two-out solo homer to straight away center field in the fifth inning to cut Bradley's lead to 5-3.

Birdsong struck out nine batters and walked just one as she improved her record to 16-8. Her 16 wins are the most for a Bradley pitcher since Amy Elza won 16 times during the 1996 season and assured Bradley it's first winning season since finishing the 1995 season with a 35-20-1 record.

Bradley and Creighton will conclude the regular-season Sunday with a single game at noon at Laura Bradley Park. The Braves need to win Sunday's game against the Bluejays and Indiana State must beat Drake Sunday in Terre Haute, Ind. for Bradley to earn a spot in the six-team State Farm MVC Tournament.