Bradley softball saw rare midweek action, splitting a Tuesday doubleheader with Missouri Valley Conference rival Illinois State. The Braves earned a 4-3 walk-off victory courtesy of senior Grace French before sophomore Camryn Schaller struck out a season-best seven Redbirds in the rematch, ending in a 6-1 defeat for the Braves.
“I think our seniors have really stepped it up the last few weeks,” Bradley head coach Amy Hayes said. “Our kids are showing up and doing a good job.”
An Illinois State (18-21, 8-7 MVC) two-run homer was not enough for a Redbird victory in the opener, as Bradley (21-18, 9-7 MVC) won their fourth straight contest thanks to late-inning heroics. The Braves took their third walk-off victory of the season with French’s two-out double driving senior Camryn Monteer home for the winning run in the seventh.
After a tense pitching duel in the first two innings of the game, the Braves broke the deadlock in the bottom of the third. Senior Samantha Smith drove in fellow senior Lucy Mead with a sacrifice fly to give the Braves the first run of the contest.
Illinois State would follow suit with a sacrifice fly of its own in the top of the fourth after Emme Olsen put herself in scoring position with a triple. A back and forth affair would be the main theme of the opener, as leads were given as fast as they were taken away.
The Braves were able to tie the game in the sixth when freshman Addie Welsh scored on a wild pitch from Redbirds’ pitcher Hannah Ross before their walk-off win.
“When we got down there with a tied game in the sixth, none of us were worried at all,” Welsh said. “We knew that we could win because we’ve done it multiple times and we’ve definitely shown that.”
“We had a good plan and did well against some of the top pitchers in the conference,” Hayes added. “It was good to get a win over them.”
A different story unfolded for the second game, as Redbird pitcher Amanda Fox held the Braves to just four hits and an unearned run.
“We needed to take advantage of attacking the zone early, because Illinois State has good bats and they’re a great team so we knew we needed to get ahead and not let them control the game from a hitting standpoint,” Schaller said.
This time around, a two-run homer from ISU’s Dayna Kennedy in the top of the second was enough to give the Redbirds the victory, with a hat trick of runs in the third to put themselves ahead 5-1. Bradley’s lone run came after senior Keeler van Breusegen’s sacrifice fly brought freshman Abbott Badgley home in the bottom of the second.
Schaller came out of the bullpen to close out the third, striking out a season best seven batters with 4.2 innings of work, only allowing three hits and one run. After two outings against Southern Illinois over the weekend where she picked up a pair of victories, Schaller pitched 11.2 innings over four days and allowed just one earned run in that span. As a result, she became the first Braves pitcher to win MVC Pitcher of the Week since 2016.
