April 28, 2007

Softball

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INDIANA STATE FALLS TWICE AT BRADLEY

PEORIA, Ill. – The Sycamores and Braves kicked off their weekend Missouri Valley Conference series with a twinbill on Saturday, April 28. Bradley edged the Sycamores in game one with a 1-0 victory which was followed by an 8 inning nail biter which the Braves took courtesy of a clutch RBI single off the bat of Christine Cooney in the bottom of the 8^th.

Game one proved to be a pitchers duel between Indiana State’s Junior Darcy Wood and the Braves Ashley Birdsong. The pitchers combined to give up only one run on seven hits with 23 strikeouts. The Braves took the 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the 6^th inning due to a leadoff one-un homerun off the bat of Elizabeth Wilson.

The Sycamores managed only two hits off of the Bradley Ace as Senior Stephanie Spychaj ripped a single and a double to account for both Indiana State hits.

Wood went 6.0 innings giving up one run on five hits while striking out 11 batters in the loss. Spychaj went 2 for 3 at the plate.

In game two the two teams flexed their collective muscles at the plate as they accounted for a combined 19 runs on 31 hits as the contest was stretched to extra innings.

The Braves started the offensive explosion in the bottom of the 1^st as Elizabeth Wilson hit her second homerun of the day, this time off of Freshman Meagan McCurdy.

The Sycamores quickly answered back in the top of the 2^nd with a one out RBI double by Senior Yvette Tovar followed by a two RBI single from Sophomore Meredith Simpson.

The Indiana State scoring continued in the top of the 3^rd with another RBI double from Tovar who was brought home two batters later with a single from Senior Julie Damico. The inning ended with the Sycamores ahead by a score of 6-4.

The Sycamores would add two more runs in the top of the 6^th as Senior Jessica McGivney came up with a huge one out, two run single to clear the bases. The teams would end the 6^th tied at 8-8.

The teams would each add another run in the 7^th inning to make the score 9-9 going to extra frames.

In the bottom of the 8^th the Braves would come up with the game winning run with the Christine Cooney RBI single.

The pair of losses dropped the Sycamores record to (19-25, 4-15 MVC) and raise the Braves record to (24-18, 7-12 MVC).

Darcy Wood (10-20) would receive the loss in game two as she came in to relieve Meagan McCurdy, going 5.0 innings giving up six runs on 11 hits with seven strikeouts.

Meredith Simpson went 4 for 5 with three RBI and Yvette Tovar went 2 for 5 with two runs and two RBI.

The Sycamores and Braves finish the weekend series tomorrow, Sunday, April 29, with a single game at Noon (ct).