NORMAL, Ill. – On the five-year anniversary of Bradley's first Missouri Valley Conference Softball Tournament title, the Braves belted three solo homers to top #1 seed Wichita State 4-2 Friday afternoon in the MVC Tournament semifinals and earn a spot in Saturday's 2:30 p.m. championship game.

Senior Marina Groenewegen (Surrey, British Columbia/Elgin Park Secondary/Southern Idaho) hit a pair of homers, giving Bradley (26-30 overall) a 3-2 lead with a solo shot in the fifth and led off the seventh with her team-best eighth home run of the year to help highlight the 4-2 victory for the Braves.

In the second inning, Bradley had runners at second and third after a Shannon King (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) single to leadoff the frame and a one-out Alex Chandler (Needles, Calif./Needles) double off the wall in right center.  The Braves had a runner thrown out at the plate trying to score on a bunt, before loading the bases with a Brittany Burgess (Utica, Ill./St. Bede) walk.  Senior Brianne Joseph (Post Falls, Idaho/Post Falls) drove in the first of the game with a bases loaded walk of her own to give Bradley an early 1-0 lead.

Wichita State (34-21 overall) took advantage of a two-out single in the bottom of the fourth with Ashley Johnson starting the rally by legging out a slow roller to second base.  A Bradley error on a bunt attempt by Kelli Spring put runners at the corners for 2014 MVC Player of the Year Casy Williams, who ripped a two-run double over the head of Joseph in left to put the Shockers in front 2-1.

Thursday's hero, Alyson Clemente (Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta Valley) led off the fifth inning with her second home run in as many days with a shot to right center to pull the Braves even at 2-2.  Groenewegen followed with a homer of her own to the exact same spot as Clemente's blast in right center to give Bradley a 3-2 advantage.

Senior Madeline Lynch-Crumrine (Sedro-Woolley, Wash./Sedro-Woolley) retired Wichita State in order in both the fifth and sixth innings as the Braves took a 3-2 lead into the seventh.

Groenewegen smashed the first pitch she saw from Shocker reliever Sloan Anderson on to the batting cage beyond the left field fence to push the BU lead to 4-2.  The homer was Groenewegen's second of the game and team-best eighth of the year.

 The Shockers tried to rally in the seventh, putting runners at first and second with no outs after a single and Bradley error to open the inning.  Lynch-Crumrine got Brittany Fortner to fly out for the first out of the inning and she fielded a pair of ground balls hit back to her to close out the 4-2 win.  The victory improved Lynch-Crumrine to 18-16 on the year as she held Wichita State to six hits and two unearned runs.

Kaitlyn Malone took for the loss for Wichita State, dropping to 16-7 on the season.  She surrendered seven hits and three runs in the setback.

The Braves advance to the MVC Tournament championship game for the fifth time in program history and will be looking for their first title since 2009.  They will face the winner of Thursday's second semifinal between #7 seed Loyola and #2 seed Illinois State.

Saturday's 2:30 p.m. championship game will be televised on FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports Indiana, FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX College Sports, Comcast SportsNet Chicago and ESPN3 outside the league's five-state footprint of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri.