WICHITA, Kan. – The seventh-seeded Illinois State softball team is moving on to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinals after defeating third-seeded Northern Iowa, 8-2, Thursday night in Wichita, Kansas.
Fresh off of an 11-7 victory over Bradley in the opening round, ISU sent Regan Romshek right back out into the circle and the junior did not disappoint. Having just pitched a complete game hours before, Romshek was in command from the get-go, working scoreless innings in the first and second.
In the top of the third, Romshek helped herself out, leading off the inning with a solo home run to put ISU up 1-0. After Stephanie Gallant walked, Riley Strandgard launched a two-run homer to extend the Redbird lead to three.
In the bottom of the frame, Caitlin Wnek got a run back for UNI as she hit a solo shot, one of the few blemishes on Romshek's line.
ISU's offense continued its roll in the fourth as Jordan de los Reyes drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. In the sixth, Annie Heineman doubled and came around to score and Romshek reached on an error and also made her way around the bases to score.
With a 6-1 lead, Romshek retired seven-straight hitters from the fourth through the start of the sixth. However, a pair of double gave UNI another run and cut the ISU lead to four. With two on and two out, Romshek induced an easy fly ball to center to get out of the inning.
She did not need any more insurance, but her offense gave it to her anyway, plating two runs in the top of the seventh. After Kara Repp and Payton Billups singled to start the inning, Lindsey Greene drove both players in with a single of her own.
Romshek made quick work of the Panthers in the bottom of the seventh, retiring the side in order and sending ISU to the semifinals. The win was also the 1,000th career win for head coach Melinda Fischer. Fischer becomes just the 18th Division I coach to reach 1,000 and she is the 11th-winningest active coach.
Seven different ISU batters recorded a hit and Romshek led the way, finishing 3-5 with two runs and two RBIs. In the circle, she went seven innings and gave up two runs on six hits while striking out two and walking two.
ISU will now face Missouri State in the semifinals Friday at 1:34 p.m. The winner will move on to the championship game, which to be played Saturday. A live audio broadcast of Friday's game will be available on GoRedbirds.com and a live video broadcast will be available through ESPN3.
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