Saturday, May 9
East Peoria, Ill.
3:00 PM
Creighton University
0
at
2
Bradley
Braves Shut Out Bluejays in MVC Title Game
5/9/2009 6:30:00 PM | Softball
EAST PEORIA, Ill. - Bradley hit two solo home runs and limited Creighton to two hits in a 2-0 Braves victory Saturday afternoon at EastSide Centre in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game. Bradley (25-26), the sixth seed, won its ninth straight game while becoming the first host school in league history to win the conference tournament, thus earning the Valley's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The regular-season champion and top-seed in the tournament, Creighton is now 35-16 on the season and will hope for its second consecutive at-large bid into the NCAA postseason when the field of 64 is announced Sunday night.
Jacqueline Vitale led off the top of the second inning with a home run to center field to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Two innings later, Miriam Wegmann led off the fourth with a homer over the left field fence to account for all the scoring in the contest.
Renae Sinkler broke up Ashley Birdsong's no-hit bid with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, with a single through the left side of the infield. Bailey Dawson followed with a deep fly ball to straight away center field, which BU center fielder Amanda Clack prevented from traveling over the fence with her back against the wall and arm exteneded over it.
Dawson would single with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, but she would be stranded at first base when Michelle Graner popped up to second to end the game. No Bluejay runner got past first base in the loss.
Birdsong, a first-team all-MVC pitcher, hurled a two-hit shutout for the Braves to improve to 19-10 on the season. The MVC Tournament MVP walked one and struck out four to propel her team to its first ever NCAA berth.
Tara Oltman (29-11) took the loss despite allowing just three hits. The three-time MVC Pitcher of the Year walked two and struck out six in defeat. With seven innings pitched on Saturday, she has now hurled 277.1 innings on the year, breaking her own school record (276.2 in 2008) for innings pitched in a season.
Sinkler and Dawson were joined by Michelle Koch on the MVC All-Tournament team.
Creighton will look for its second straight at-large bid when the NCAA Tournament bracket is announced on ESPNU, Sunday at 9 p.m. (CST).
NOTES: Creighton appeared in its eighth MVC Tournament championship game in the last 11 years ... Creighton is now 5-3 all-time in the MVC Tournament championship game ... CU had won its last four appearances in the MVC Tournament championship game, with its last loss in the title game coming in Omaha in 2001 ... The Bluejays have advanced to the NCAA Tournament in five of the last six years and made 11 NCAA Tournaments in school history ... Oltman started her 102nd career game on Saturday, tying Kelly Brookhart's school record ... Oltman had not allowed more than one home run in a game since surrendering three at Tulsa on Feb. 22 ... CU has been shutout eight times this season, twice by Birdsong ... Prior to allowing two earned runs on Saturday, Oltman had surrended just two earned runs in her previous 62.2 innings pitched against MVC opponents ... Of Oltman's career 27 starts lost, the Bluejays have been shutout in 10 and scored a total of 29 runs in those 27 games.
Jacqueline Vitale led off the top of the second inning with a home run to center field to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Two innings later, Miriam Wegmann led off the fourth with a homer over the left field fence to account for all the scoring in the contest.
Renae Sinkler broke up Ashley Birdsong's no-hit bid with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, with a single through the left side of the infield. Bailey Dawson followed with a deep fly ball to straight away center field, which BU center fielder Amanda Clack prevented from traveling over the fence with her back against the wall and arm exteneded over it.
Dawson would single with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, but she would be stranded at first base when Michelle Graner popped up to second to end the game. No Bluejay runner got past first base in the loss.
Birdsong, a first-team all-MVC pitcher, hurled a two-hit shutout for the Braves to improve to 19-10 on the season. The MVC Tournament MVP walked one and struck out four to propel her team to its first ever NCAA berth.
Tara Oltman (29-11) took the loss despite allowing just three hits. The three-time MVC Pitcher of the Year walked two and struck out six in defeat. With seven innings pitched on Saturday, she has now hurled 277.1 innings on the year, breaking her own school record (276.2 in 2008) for innings pitched in a season.
Sinkler and Dawson were joined by Michelle Koch on the MVC All-Tournament team.
Creighton will look for its second straight at-large bid when the NCAA Tournament bracket is announced on ESPNU, Sunday at 9 p.m. (CST).
NOTES: Creighton appeared in its eighth MVC Tournament championship game in the last 11 years ... Creighton is now 5-3 all-time in the MVC Tournament championship game ... CU had won its last four appearances in the MVC Tournament championship game, with its last loss in the title game coming in Omaha in 2001 ... The Bluejays have advanced to the NCAA Tournament in five of the last six years and made 11 NCAA Tournaments in school history ... Oltman started her 102nd career game on Saturday, tying Kelly Brookhart's school record ... Oltman had not allowed more than one home run in a game since surrendering three at Tulsa on Feb. 22 ... CU has been shutout eight times this season, twice by Birdsong ... Prior to allowing two earned runs on Saturday, Oltman had surrended just two earned runs in her previous 62.2 innings pitched against MVC opponents ... Of Oltman's career 27 starts lost, the Bluejays have been shutout in 10 and scored a total of 29 runs in those 27 games.
Players Mentioned
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IF
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