PEORIA, Ill.– The Braves split the remaining two games against UNI to grab their fourth series win of the season and rise in the MVC standings.
Game 1
In a back and forth battle, Bradley was able to come away with their second win of the weekend against Northern Iowa, while able to jump them in the standings.
"Moving up in the MVC standings is exciting, but not something that is a big focus for us," said Braves Head Coach Sarah Willis. "This program does better when we stay in the present and focus on the next step."
One of the things that kept the Braves so competitive this series was the lack of errors, posting a perfect fielding percentage on the weekend.
"Defense wins ball games. Not much more I can say other than it has been fun to see the defense step up and expect those plays from themselves," said Sarah Willis. " Those heads-up plays make a difference in changing the momentum in a game."
The Braves offense struck early in the third inning to put two across. Addie Welsh was able to score on a wild pitch to put the Braves up 1-0. Shortly after, Sydney Kennedy, acting as the DP for the game, came through with an RBI single to score Lauren DeRolf, upping the score 2-0.
It wasn't until the sixth inning that the bats of the Panthers woke up to get within striking distance of the Braves, but Kennedy was able to come in and get the first Bradley save of the season.
Camryn Schaller blanked the Panthers bats in 5.0 innings pitched, recording 6 strikeouts and allowing only 5 hits.
Game 2
In a back and forth battle between the Panthers and Braves, the Panthers came through in extra innings.
In the bottom of the first inning, Tori Meyer hit a sacrifice fly to score Lauren DeRolf to put the Braves up 1-0.
The Braves had a big fourth inning, where they rallied for four runs. Started off by Addie Welsh laying down a perfectly executed suicide squeeze to score Ashley Breeding and extending the lead to 2-0. Lauren DeRolf was able to record an RBI and score Kierston McCoy on a ground out. To get the final run of the inning, Addie Welsh scored on a wild pitch.
Sydney Kennedy went 7.1 innings, while recording 5 strikeouts and only 1 walk on the day.
Coming Up…
The Braves will finish their series with in-state rival, Illinois State, with a single game on April 16th with a start time of 5 p.m.
