May 8, 2016 Box Score
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The Missouri State softball team (21-29, 10-14) was unable to claw back from an early deficit and fell 5-3 in the regular season finale to visiting Indiana State (16-35, 9-15) at Killian Stadium on Sunday. The loss puts the Bears as the eight-seed in the MVC Softball Championship next Thursday against five-seed Bradley at 11:04 a.m.
Missouri State racked up 11 hits in the game. Sophomore Kaitlin Beason had two including a home run, her second in the series against Indiana State. Fellow sophomores Madison Jones and Hailee Vigneaux also recorded two hits with Jones scoring once. Junior Elena Gambill went 2-for-3 in the game as well.
Senior Erin Duewel drove in two runs in her final game at Killian Stadium. Her second squeeze bunt of the series and a sac fly accounted for both RBI
Missouri State looked to take the first lead of the game in the second inning. Beason drew a leadoff walk. Gambill followed with a single to center to put two aboard. Then with two away, Vigneaux singled to right, but the runner was thrown out at the plate to end the threat.
The Sycamores turned back-to-back walks to begin the third inning into the first run of the game. A sac bunt and RBI ground out put ISU up 1-0.
Erika Velasquez Zimmer began the Bears' third with a bunt single. Olivia Roark also reached on a bunt single and both moved into scoring position on Jones' sac bunt. Duewel followed and knotted the game at 1-1 with a successful squeeze bunt.
Indiana State got six base hits in the fourth inning and scored three times. Velasquez Zimmer ended the inning with an outfield assist on a putout at the plate to keep the deficit at three. ISU added another run in the fifth on a solo home run.
Beason cut into the deficit with a leadoff solo home run in the sixth. It was her team-lead tying eighth of the year and second of the series.
Jones began the seventh with a triple to the right-center gap. Duewel's sac fly plated her to put the tying run in the on-deck circle, but MSU was not able to erase the deficit in the final regular season game.
Seniors Jessie Van Es and Braxton Coil were inserted into the starting lineup for a memorable moment in the final home game of both players' careers. Coil, who suffered a season-ending injury, caught the first pitch from Van Es to a raucous ovation by the MSU fans. Van Es pitched four innings in her final Killian Stadium appearance.
The Bears will head to Carbondale, Ill., for the MVC Softball Championship beginning on Thursday. MSU will face Bradley at 11:04 a.m. and the winner will play host Southern Illinois at 4:04 p.m. also on Thursday.
#MSUBears
