NORMAL, Ill. - After falling behind 2-0, the Illinois State softball team (18-24, 10-5 MVC) scored the game's final 13 runs en route to a 13-2 five-inning victory over Evansville (16-26, 4-13 MVC), Friday evening at Marian Kneer Stadium. The Redbirds scored in every inning, including five-run first and fourth frames, in their second-straight double digit run performance.
Stephanie Gallant slugged two home runs and tallied five RBI, including a grand slam, to lead ISU offensively. Nichelle Harrison and Jordan de los Reyes both went 3-for-3 to equal career-highs in hits, while Sara Bradley added a three-run home run and matched a career-best with three runs scored. The two-through-six spots in the batting order - Harrison, Regan Romshek, de los Reyes, Bradley and Gallant - combined to go 10-for-12 with three home runs, 10 RBI and 11 runs scored.
Romshek (WP, 12-14) went the distance in the circle to earn her second-straight victory. After allowing a two-run homer in the first inning, the sophomore blanked Evansville for the remainder of the contest. She surrendered just four hits, while walking four and striking out four.
Despite the end result, it was actually the Purple Aces who grabbed the game's first lead. Romshek walked Emma Buckles to lead off the game, before Chandra Parr took Romshek deep for her eighth home run of the season and a 2-0 Evansville lead.
From there, though, it was all Redbirds, as they bounced back with five runs in the bottom half of the first. Harrison singled and Romshek walked, before de los Reyes doubled to plate Harrison. Bradley followed with a three-run bomb to left center that equaled de los Reyes' team-leading eighth of the season and put ISU up 4-2. Gallant then hit a solo blast to right center for a 5-2 advantage, as ISU went back-to-back for the second time this season.
Romshek worked out of a bases loaded situation in the top of the second, setting the stage for ISU's offense to continue to do damage against Evansville starter Briana Combs (LP, 3-4). With two outs in the second, Harrison tripled and scored on an illegal pitch to make it 6-2 Redbirds. ISU added on to its lead in the third, when UE shortstop Michal Luckett committed a throwing error with the bases loaded that brought home two more for an 8-2 advantage.
ISU's offensive onslaught continued in the fourth with another five-run frame, this time against reliever Emily Morris (ND). De los Reyes brought home Laura Canopy with a single, before Gallant came up to the plate with the bases loaded two batters later. The junior unloaded on a 2-0 pitch and crushed it off the scoreboard beyond the right-field fence for a grand slam, ISU's second of the season, and her fifth long ball of the campaign. Romshek blanked UE in the fifth to secure the run-rule win.
The series against Evansville concludes with a doubleheader, Saturday. Game one begins at noon.
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