PEORIA, Ill. -- Junior Janay Mitchell went 6-for-7 with four runs scored and an RBI, while senior Ashley Birdsong picked up a pair of complete game victories to help the Bradley softball team to 5-3 and 6-1 wins against visiting Missouri State Saturday afternoon at Laura Bradley in Missouri Valley Conference softball action. The Braves (20-26 overall, 11-12 MVC) have won a season-best four consecutive games and have climbed into sixth place in the MVC standings with the victories.
Bradley had scored a total of 10 runs in the previous six games, but combined for 11 runs and 19 hits in the doubleheader sweep of the Bears. The Braves got on the board in the bottom of the first inning in the opener, pushing three runs across. Junior Lindsay Watkins (Hopedale, Ill./Olympia/Parkland) led off with a single and Mitchell followed with a bunt single. Junior Jacqueline Vitale (Indian Head Park, Ill./Lyons Township) followed up a double steal with a two-out two-run single up the middle. Vitale came around to score on a single to center field by junior Amanda Clack (Hillsboro, Mo./Hillsboro) to give the Braves a 3-0 lead.
Missouri State (19-23 overall, 8-11 MVC) got one run back in the top of the second inning on a solo homer by Jen Carr. The Bears also used the long ball to tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth inning. Christa Gammon led off the inning with a double to left field and Jessie Smith blasted her seventh homer of the year to left field to tie the game at 3-3.
The Braves went back in front in the fifth inning. Watkins beat out an infield single with one out and Mitchell followed with a single. With runners at second and third and one out, senior Alycia Bachkora (Overland Park, Kan./Notre Dame de Sion) drove in Watkins with the go ahead run with a squeeze bunt and Mitchell added an insurance run on a Missouri State error on the play as Bradley took a 5-3 lead.
Birdsong got out of jams in the sixth and seventh inning without giving up a run as she cruised to her third consecutive victory. She struck out six and walked two in the complete game win.
Bradley picked up right where it left off in the nightcap, threatening to score in the first inning. A two-out walk by Bachkora was followed by a single and another walk to load the bases. Missouri State's Lauren Supak got out of the jam unscathed, however, as the Braves came up empty in the bottom of the first inning.
Freshman Julie Sherman (Hickory Hills, Ill./Stagg) led off the bottom of the second with a walk and stole second. Sherman moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and later scored when Mitchell singled down the left field line to give Bradley an early 1-0 lead.
Senior Miriam Wegmann (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) opened the third inning with a single and Vitale drove in her third and fourth runs of the day when she belted a homer to center field to push the Braves advantage to 3-0. The home run was Vitale's fourth of the season.
The Bears got their first base runner of the game with one out in the fourth inning when Gammon roped a single to left center. Birdsong settled down and would take a shutout into the sixth inning.
Bradley added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning after a Bachkora two-run homer. Mitchell had a two-out single through the left side and Bachkora followed with her team-leading ninth home run of the year to left. Bachkora's nine home runs is a Bradley season record, surpassing the previous mark of eight shared by Clack, Natalie Quinn and Brittany Mynsberge.
Missouri State was able to scratch out a run in the sixth inning to cut the Braves lead to 5-1. Jenna Schwark singled to lead off the inning and moved to third on a one-out single by Smith. Schwark scored on a deep foul ball caught down the right field line off the bat of Ashley Knehans.
Mitchell once again made the Bears pay with her speed on the basepaths as scored her fourth run of the day in the bottom of the sixth inning after a leadoff triple to left center. A Missouri State error put runners at first and third with no outs when pinch runner Megan O'Malley (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) stole second. Mitchell raced home when the throw to second base sailed into center field to push the Braves lead to 6-1.
Birdsong retired the Bears in order in the seventh to close out the 6-1 victory. She struck out six and walked none, while scattering six hits and giving up one earned run. Birdsong improved to 14-10 on the year with the win in the nightcap.
Bradley closes out the series with Missouri State Sunday with a single game at noon at Laura Bradley Park. Seniors Alycia Bachkora, Ashley Birdsong, Anne Creighton, Katy Dammer and Miriam Wegmann will be recognized prior to the contest.
