May 3, 2015 Box Score
MVC Tournament Central
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Junior Erin Duewel hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning and sophomore Erin Struemph tied a season-high with 10 strikeouts as the Missouri State softball team (29-24, 17-9) locked up the two-seed with a 4-1 win at Southern Illinois (21-25-1, 15-11) on Sunday to close out the regular season. The win gives the Bears a bye into the semifinal round of the MVC Tournament next week in Wichita.
The second-place finish for Missouri State is the highest since the Bears finished second in 2006. That year, MSU advanced to the NCAA Tournament by winning the MVC Tournament with three consecutive 4-0 wins.
Senior Chelsea Jones tied a career-high with three hits in the game. Leadoff hitter Mary Stephens added two hits and scored a run.
Duewel hit her 10th home run of the season to break a 1-1 tie. She nearly blew the game open in the seventh, but her potential grand slam was ruled foul. She drove in three runs for the Bears.
Struemph tied a season-high with 10 strikeouts. She allowed just a single run and scattered six hits in her team-high eighth complete game of the year.
Missouri State got on the board in the first inning. Stephens began the game with a single up the middle. She moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a passed ball as Erika Velasquez Zimmer walked. Velasquez Zimmer stole second base, her 19th steal of the year. Rebecca McPherson flew deep to left and Stephens scored on the sacrifice fly.
SIU tied the game in the fourth inning with a leadoff solo home run. The Bears got single runners on in the second, third and fifth innings, but were not able to sustain a lengthy rally.
In the sixth, things changed. With one away, Chelsea Jones legged out an infield single. She was replaced at first by pinch runner Ali Trickey. On the next pitch, Erin Duewel drove a ball high and far to left over the fence for a two-run home run. It was her 10th round tripper of the season.
With one away in the seventh, Velasquez Zimmer lined a single off of the first base bag. She moved to second on McPherson's single through the left side. Chelsea Jones singled to center to load the bases for Duewel. It appeared as if Duewel hit a grand slam on the first pitch, but the umpires ruled it foul. She would return to the batter's box and grounded out to push home an insurance run.
Struemph wiggled out of a runners-on-the-corners, one-out jam in the seventh by recording back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.
Missouri State will next play in the semifinal round of the MVC Tournament on Friday in Wichita, Kan. The Bears opponent for the 2:34 p.m. game will be determined by the outcome of Thursday's opening and quarterfinal rounds.
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