CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Sophomore Jaelen Hull (Clifton, Ill./Bishop McNamara) struck out a career-best eight and Bradley took advantage of four Northern Iowa errors in the second game to salvage a split with a 7-3 victory in the nightcap after the Panthers took the opening game of a Missouri Valley Conference softball doubleheader 5-1 Saturday afternoon.

Senior Shannon King (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) was 3-for-6 on the day to extend her hit streak to a career-best nine games to help highlight the day offensively for the Braves. 

Both teams got off to slow starts offensively in the opener, before Northern Iowa was able to push a run across in the bottom of the third.  Caitlin Wnek drew a one-out walk and came around to score on a two-out double off the bat off Rikki Alcaraz to put the Panthers in front 1-0.

Bradley loaded the bases in the top of the fourth on a walk and singles by King and freshman Erika Hansen (Fillmore, Calif./Moorpark), but UNI's Chelsea Ross got a strikeout and lineout to end the threat as the Braves left the bases loaded. 

Wnek had another walk in the fifth and Kristen Lock followed another Alcaraz single with a three-run homer to left to give Northern Iowa a 4-0 lead.  UNI added another run in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Samantha Olseon to push the lead to 5-0.

Ross, who struck out 10 batters in the game, retired 10 consecutive hitters after Bradley loaded the bases in the fourth before a two-out walk by Kendall Duffy (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) in the seventh.  Senior Brittany Burgess (Utica, Ill./St. Bede) ended the shutout bid when she drove in Duffy with a double to left.  Ross got a groundout to end the game, however, as Northern Iowa took the opener 5-1.

In the nightcap, Northern Iowa jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning after a pair of walks and Kennedy Bailey two-out RBI single.

A four-run fourth inning for the Braves gave Bradley its first lead of the day at 4-1.  King led off the frame with one of her three hits on the day and senior Lexi Cremeens (Dix, Ill./Mount Vernon) had a double.  Freshman Maria Schroeder (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich) tied it up at 1-1 with a RBI single and Cremeens scored to give the Braves a 2-1 lead on a Duffy single.  With the bases loaded and one out, two runs scored on the first of four UNI errors in the contest when freshman Elizabeth Leonard (Olathe, Kan./Olathe East) hit into a fielder's choice as Bradley took a 4-1 lead.

Three UNI errors in the sixth led to three more Bradley runs.  Burgess was hit by a pitch to lead things off in the sixth and sophomore Kelly Kapp (Freeburg, Ill./Gibault Catholic) followed with one of her three hits in the game.  Leonard drove in a run when she reached on the second Panther error of the inning to plate Burgess and it was 7-1 in favor of Bradley when a dropped fly ball allowed two more runs to cross.

Hull held Northern Iowa to four hits in the first five innings, before three hits in the bottom of the sixth led to two UNI runs.  A two-out Wnek double plated the first run of the frame and she came around to score on a single off the bat of Micalla Rettinger to cut the Bradley lead to 7-3. 

Hull got a fly out to end the inning and worked around a two-out single in the seventh to improve to 4-8 with the complete game victory in the second game.  Posting a career-best eight strikeouts, Hull is now  3-0 in her last five appearances.  In the opener, senior Alyson Spinas-Valainis (Davenport, Iowa/Assumption) took the loss in the circle for the Braves to fall to 6-13 on the year.

Bradley and Northern Iowa close out the three-game series Sunday with a single game at noon in Cedar Falls, Iowa.