April 22, 2007
No. 18 Illinois State 1, Creighton 1 
OMAHA, Neb. - There have been plenty of firsts this season for the No. 18 Illinois State softball team and the Redbirds added another on Sunday as the third game of the series between ISU and Creighton was called in a 1-1 tie. Severe thunderstorms in the Omaha area forced the decision after five full innings of play and it marked the first tie in all of Missouri Valley Conference play since 1999.
Illinois State recorded its first tie since the 1992 season and move to 37-13-1, 13-6-1 MVC. Creighton remains tied for first place with Southern Illinois in the league standings with its 32-10-1,14-3-1 in the Valley.
Amber Smith collected the first hit of the game in the top of the third, launching a home run over the left field fence to put Illinois State up, 1-0. The homer was number 12 of the year for the career home run record holder at ISU and marked the 29th of her young Redbird career.
Putting the first Creighton base runner on first in the bottom half of the inning, starting Redbird pitcher Stacy Birk hit right fielder Lau Emmsley-Chang, who advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Bluejay third baseman Jamie Reiss popped a hit over third base that looked as if it would drop into shallow left field but outfielder Katie Thoennes made an outstanding diving catch to end the inning and scoring threat.
But the Jays answered in the bottom of the fourth, perfectly executing a suicide squeeze the scored Jessica Wakasugi, who reached on a throwing error by Redbird third baseman Jessie Buker. Wakasugi advanced to second on the overthrow to first and then took third on a sacrifice from Bailey Dawson. The powerful T.J. Eadus then stepped to the plate and surprised the ISU defense when she laid down a bunt that rolled back to Birk in the circle. Birk bobbled the ball, not able to make the play at home but throwing to first for the second out of the inning. Eadus was credited with an RBI as the Bluejays tied the game at 1-1.
Illinois State returns to Normal, Ill., to host Southern Illinois in MVC action on April 28-29. The teams will play in a doubleheader on Saturday, April 28 starting at noon at Redbird Softball Complex, with the third game coming next Sunday, April 29.
