After being swept at home by Southern Illinois, the Bradley softball team went on the road Tuesday to split a doubleheader with Illinois State, giving Bradley a series victory.
This series marks Bradley’s first series victory against ISU since 1987.
“It was interesting, but it was kind of the same thing, kind of the same mindset of going in to do your job,” freshman rightfielder Katie Habryle said. “It’s just you knew if push came to shove, you had that bottom of the seventh inning to come back, which we did.”
The first game was a make-up game, as rain put a stop to the original double-header at Bradley on April 21. As a result, the Braves were forced to play the unusual home game on the road.
Pitching dominated the first half of game one. Both teams were held scoreless through the first four innings.
“[Junior] Jaelen [Hull] did a great job, she was hitting her spots well,” Habryle said. “[Senior] Dani [Cowan] came in great and had a great catch on a line drive that came right at her head. They both did a great job adjusting to the strike zone.”
The Braves scored first on sophomore Erika Hansen’s double in the bottom of the fifth to take a 1-0 lead, but the Redbirds got right back in it with sacrifice fly to tie the game.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Braves had runners on second and third when senior Rachel Huggins launched a three-run, walk-off homer to give Bradley a 4-1 victory in game one. The home run was her eighth of Missouri Valley Conference play, which ties the Bradley record set in 2009.
Game two was a different story for the Braves, however. The Redbirds jumped all over Bradley pitchers freshmen Julie Kostas and Megan Mahaffey for six runs in the first two innings, but the women cut the deficit in half in the fourth when Habryle connected on a three-run homer.
“They came out and they didn’t want to get swept,” Habryle said. “They knew they couldn’t come out flat again.”
Illinois State put the game away later with a three-run homer of their own in the bottom of the fifth and an RBI triple in the seventh. The Redbirds went on to beat the Braves 11-3.
“It was pretty great, especially being on their home field,” Habryle said. “It was really cool to be that team that was able to do it … and it was a really cool experience.”
Bradley will return to action Saturday when Loyola-Chicago comes to town for the last homestand of the year.
“We just need to keep coming out strong,” Habryle said. “If we have our letdowns, we need to come back and push harder.”
