The Illinois State softball team fell to Creighton, 2-1 in eight innings, in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, Thursday night, after a 45-minute delay due to a tornado warning.
The Redbirds will continue on their road to a Valley tournament title and berth to the NCAA tournament as they face Wichita State, who lost to Southwest Missouri State, 4-2 in ten innings, on Friday for a 2:30 p.m. game.
Head coach
Melinda Fischer was very disappointed with the loss.
Audra pitched great, but we didnt give any offensive support and Creighton took advantage of our mistakes, said Fischer. Its five games to the championship and we have to take it one game at a time.
Although Redbird pitcher Audra Rast picked up the five strikeouts needed to move her into the No. 2 spot in the Valley record book for strikeouts in a single season, the Redbirds allowed the Blue Jays to score as Ashlee Trapp stole second base and advanced all the way home on two Redbird errors. Creighton took the early lead at 1-0, after two innings.
The Redbirds finally tied it up at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, as senior Abbie Scott hit a single and was advanced on a single by Emily Krueger. Carly Weinstein entered the game to pinch-run for Krueger. After Melissa Baker struck out for the second out, Kate Stake hit a single and advanced on the throw to drive home Scott for the tying run, before the Redbirds were retired with the third out.
Illinois State held Creighton to one run in the top of the seventh inning as Rast retired the Jays with two strikeouts, followed by a hit batter, and another strikeout. The Redbirds failed to score in the bottom of the seventh, forcing the 1-1 tie ballgame into the eighth inning.
In the top of the eighth, Creightons Jenny Hunt hit a single and advanced on the throw as Katie Ayers slid home for the 2-1 lead, and ultimately the victory, as the Birds failed to score in the bottom of the inning.
Rast hurled 13 strikeouts and allowed no walks, but gave up two runs on five hits. Krueger went 3-for-4 and Katie Shifflet 1-for-3. Stake went 1-for-4 with one RBI and Scott went 2-for-4 with one run.
Fans can listen to the Redbird softball games at the Valley Tournament via webcast, by logging on to www.wjbc.com or www.redbirds.org. WJBCs Tim Fisher will provide the play-by-play beginning at 2:20 p.m.
--##--
