EAST PEORIA, Ill. ? The Bradley softball team took a seventh inning lead into both games of Monday's Missouri Valley Conference doubleheader against Illinois State, but the visiting Redbirds hit seventh inning home runs to come from behind and win each of the league games at the Eastside Centre in East Peoria. ISU won game one, 5-3, then won the nightcap, 8-7.

In game one, the Redbirds jumped to an early 2-0 lead on a first inning home run from starting pitcher Amber Smith off Bradley starter Ashley Birdsong (Otis, Ore./Taft H.S.). Smith's shot to right-center field was her third of the year.

The Redbirds (18-15 overall, 8-4 MVC) held on to the two-run lead until the bottom half of the sixth inning, as the Braves finally broke through offensively. After a walk, single, and a fielder's choice, junior Miriam Wegmann (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville H.S.) lined a single up the middle to score sophomore Janay Mitchell (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South H.S.) to trim the deficit to 2-1. Junior Alycia Bachkora (Overland Park, Kan./Notre Dame de Sion H.S.) tied the game at 2-2 with an RBI double, followed by a run-scoring single from sophomore Lauren Meister (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) that gave BU a 3-2 lead.

Illinois State shortstop Kaprice Wiliams started the top of the seventh with a bloop single to left field off Birdsong. The visitors follwed with a sacrifice bunt and a single, then took a 5-3 lead on Smith's second home run of the game, a three-run shot to right-center field that would hold up as the final score. Smith drove in all five ISU runs with her pair of round-trippers.

Birdsong took the loss for the Braves (11-19 overall, 3-11 MVC), but recorded her 600th career strikeout when she struck out Jennifer Brown in the top of the sixth inning. Birdsong joins Beth Hawkins as the only BU pitchers to strike out 600 batters in a career. ISU's Rachel Smith came on in the fifth inning and notched the victory in relief, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings.

The visitors scored first in the nightcap as well, getting a solo home run from Williams for a 1-0 lead. The Braves answered promptly on sophomore Amanda Clack's infield RBI single in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 1-1. One inning later, the Braves exploded for six runs, the most in a single inning since BU scored six runs in the first inning of a victory at Wichita State on March 15. Bradley collected four hits in the frame, the big blow being a grand slam from Clack to dead center field. Clack's home run was her seventh of the season, the second-most home runs in a single season in school history behind Brittany Mynsberge and Natalie Quinn, each with eight.

The Redbirds chipped away at the deficit with three runs on four hits in the fop of the fifth inning to draw within 7-4. The BU lead became 7-5 after an RBI double from ISU third baseman Kara Nelson in the sixth inning. After Birdsong issued walks to the first two batters in the Redbird seventh inning, ISU first baseman Michelle Henderson blasted a three-run home run to left field to give the Redbirds an 8-7 lead, her first long ball of the season.

Wegmann drew a walk to start the bottom of the inning, but pinch runner Katy Dammer (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) was picked off later in the frame. Amber Smith retired the final two batters without a problem to secure the second victory of the night for Illinois State.

Amber Smith gained the victory in relief for ISU, allowing just one hit in three innings to move to 8-6. Birdsong threw her second complete game of the night in taking the loss to fall to 8-12 on the year. Coming into the game, the Braves had gone 7-0 when leading after the sixth inning.

The Braves will return to conference play this Thursday with a single contest at Northern Iowa. The Panthers swept a doubleheader from the Braves in Peoria on April 2. Following the contest in Cedar Falls, BU will remain in the state of Iowa for a three-game set with Drake beginning with a doubleheader Saturday at noon in Des Moines.