T-town Graduates Do Well For Illinois State, Bradley

BOWLING GREEN, KY. -- The Illinois State softball team (7-7) opened the Holiday Inn Hilltopper Spring Fling with a 5-0 shutout victory over IUPUI, behind Morgan Day's second-career one-hitter and 18 strikeouts. Day's 18 strikeouts are tied for the most in a game by a Redbird, since Nicole Kurth tossed the same amount in 2001. 

Morgan Day fanned six-straight Jaguars – and eight of the first nine she faced – to keep IUPUI off the bases through three frames.

Mack Leonard picked up right where she left off offensively, launching her sixth home run of the season – and fifth in the lead-off position of an inning – to give ISU an early lead.

A sac fly to right field by Spenser Strandgard sent Alyssa Wiebel charging across home plate in the bottom of the fourth, who led off the frame with her eighth extra-base hit of the season.

In the fifth, the Redbirds extended their lead by a run, as Emme Olson tripled down the right field line to push Kaili Chval around the bases.

Back-to-back homers by Strandgard and Anni Borries (Teutopolis) highlighted the sixth inning, as Day closed the game with a pair of strikeouts to seal the 5-0 shutout win for ISU. Kadi Borries (Teutopolis) drew a walk.

Illinois State 11, Austin Peay 4

Veteran head coach Melinda Fischer earned her 1,100th career victory on Friday afternoon in an 11-4 decision over Austin Peay at the Holiday Inn Hilltopper Spring Fling.

With this victory, Fischer becomes just the 19th head coach in NCAA Division I softball to reach the career milestone, while ranking as the 11th winningest among active head coaches.

A ground out to Taylor Vanderpool at second base helped the Redbirds escape an early bases-loaded jam in the opening frame.

Spenser Strandgard lifted a home run over the center field wall to lead off the second inning, highlighting a four-run inning for Illinois State. Austin Peay responded in the home half of the inning with a three-run shot to right center field to come within one of the Redbirds.

The Redbirds regained a three-run advantage in the third, behind a trio of hits from Alyssa Wiebel, Strandgard and Brittni LaFountaine, before the Governors came back within two on an RBI single.

Emme Olson launched a two-run homer to right field in the fifth, while a two-RBI double to left field by Mack Leonard in the sixth, helped ISU surge ahead, 10-4.

Wiebel knocked ISU's third home run of the game over the left field wall, while Morgan Day struck out the side in the seventh, to cap the Redbirds' 11-4 victory.

A. Borries drew two walks in the contest. K. Borries also played.

WKU 5, Illinois State 2

Illinois State dropped its first loss in the tourney at the hands of WKU, 5-2.
A. Borries had a single in the contest. Mack Leonard had two singles and the squad finished with a total of six hits.

Illinois State 5, Austin Peay 4

The Illinois State softball team (9-8) responded after a 5-2 setback to Western Kentucky on Saturday afternoon, topping Austin Peay, 5-4, in the night cap.

A one-out RBI double by Emme Olson in the bottom of the opening frame helped the Redbirds take an early 1-0 lead, before Mack Leonard and the ISU defense sat the Governors down in order in the second.

Spenser Strandgard drew a walk in the bottom of the third to load the bases for ISU, before Anni Borries dropped a two-RBI single to centerfield to extend the Redbirds' lead. In the next at-bat, a wild pitch sent Strandgard charging across home plate to make it 4-0 in favor of the Redbirds.

For the third-straight inning, ISU led off with an extra base hit, as Leonard doubled to left center field in the sixth and scored on an error by the Governors.

Austin Peay rallied in the seventh, tacking on four runs to come within one of ISU, but Leonard struck out the final batter to give the Redbirds the 5-4 win.
A. Borries had a single in the contest.

WKU 12, Illinois State 1

Illinois State managed only one run in this contest while giving up 12 runs on eight hits and three errors.

A. Borries had a single for Illinois State.

Bradley 12, Saint Peter 0

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Bradley softball capped a 4-1 weekend at the Gaucho Classic with a 12-0 victory over Saint Peter’s Sunday afternoon behind a complete-game, four-hit shutout by sophomore Grace French and an offensive output that tied the season high for runs. 

Sophomore Camryn Monteer was one of five Bradley players with multi-hit efforts, going 3-for-3 with a run and RBI, while senior Allison Apke (Teutopolis) drove in three runs and scored once in a 2-for-3 effort at the plate which included a pair of doubles.

French struck out a season-high six batters and did not give up a walk in her second complete game shutout of the year as she improved to 4-0 on the season with the victory.

Apke moved into a tie for sixth in Bradley history in career RBI, pushing her career total to 106.  She knocked in three runs Sunday and drove in seven runs on the weekend. 

Bradley, which is 11-7 through 18 games for the first time since opening the 2007 season 12-7, came up empty in the first after Lucy Mead and Brooklyn Bane drew back-to-back walks to open the game and the Braves left two on in the second.

Saint Peter’s (0-3 overall) had one of its best scoring chances in the bottom of the first.  The Peacocks had a pair on after a Bradley error to open the inning and a two-out single, only to have French get a pop out to end the threat.

The Braves broke the contest open with six runs in the top of the third.  Mead and Bane singled to start the inning before freshman Bella Mauries reached on an error to load the bases.  Sophomore Samantha Smith drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly to right and Apke followed with a two-run double to right center.  Another run came home on a Stacia Seeton double and junior Taise Thompson added a RBI double of her own.  Thompson later scored on a wild pitch to give Bradley a 6-0 lead.

French worked around a one-out single in the third and Saint Peter’s stranded a pair in the fourth. 

Bradley struck for six more runs in the top of the fifth to push the advantage to 12-0.  Seeton opened the inning with a single and stole second before eventually scoring on a Monteer single.  Monteer later scored on a two-out single by Mead and French kept the inning alive with a double to put runners at second and third.  Mauries plated two runs with a double to center as the Braves built a 10-0 lead.  Junior Jillian Navarro had a RBI single to center and Apke ripped her second double of the day to drive home Navarro from second as the lead ballooned to 12-0.

Saint Peter’s threatened again in the bottom half of the fifth, only to have French settle down to close out the win.  A pair of Bradley errors to open the inning put runners at the corners with no outs.  A groundout right back to French was the first out of the inning and she struck out the next two batter to finish off the complete game shutout.