May 13, 2011
Box Score
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -
The Illinois State softball team's run in the State Farm MVC Softball Championships was short lived as the top-seeded Redbirds fell, 4-2, to No. 5 seed Missouri State Friday afternoon at Killian Stadium in Springfield, Mo. ISU (35-17, 21-5 MVC) will now wait, until the NCAA Tournament field is announced Sunday night at 9 p.m. CST, to see if its season continues.
Redshirt freshman Nichelle Harrison led Illinois State, going 3-for-3 at the plate with a triple and a run scored. Senior Kara Nelson, the 2011 MVC Player of the Year, was the only other Redbird with multiple hits and finished 2-for-4 with a RBI.
Junior Jordan Birch took the loss for ISU and fell to 17-6 inside the circle. Birch allowed four runs, two of them earned, on six hits and issued two walks, while striking out four in 5.2 innings. Fellow junior Megan Warner allowed one hit and struck out two over the final 1.1 innings.
Illinois State, who swept Missouri State in the regular-season series earlier this year in Normal, Ill., outhit the Bears, 8-7, but stranded seven runners on the base paths and committed two errors, one of which led to a pair of unearned runs. In addition, MSU starter Natalie Rose struck out nine ISU hitters and issued only one walk in the complete-game victory.
The Bears took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, when Stevie Pierce laid down a squeeze bunt that allowed Tyler Porter to slide around the tag at home. Illinois State tied the game just one inning later on a two-out single by sophomore Jhavon Hamilton that scored redshirt freshman Sara Bradley.
In the top of the fifth, Missouri State mounted a two-out rally and regained the lead, 2-1. Ashley Knehans drove a single to right center and Pierce followed with a walk. Heather Duckworth then singled to center, allowing Knehans to score from second.
MSU added some insurance in the top of the sixth, scoring a pair of unearned runs to extend its lead to 4-1. Kirstin Cutter slapped a two-out single to left to keep the frame alive and moved into scoring position by stealing second. The inning appeared to be over when Porter hit a routine grounder to Birch, but Birch's throw to first came up short and allowed Porter to reach safely and Cutter to score from second. Warner then came out of the bullpen to relieve Birch, hitting the first batter she faced in Raeven Replogle. Knehans followed by lacing a single down the left field line that scored Porter, before Warner fanned Pierce to end the inning.
The Redbirds would not go quietly, as Harrison led off the bottom of the seventh with a triple and Nelson drove her in with a one-out single through the right side. Nelson advanced into scoring position after a ground out by sophomore Lauren Kellar, brining the tying run to the plate in senior Abby Olson. Rose got Olson to swing and miss at an outside fastball to end the game and advance Missouri State to the championship game on Saturday.
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