Box Score | Season Stats | Highlights
 
SPRINGFIELD – Home runs by Kelly Metter and Kaitlin Beason helped Missouri State to a 6-2 win over visiting Valparaiso here Sunday to help the Bears salvage the final game of the three-game Missouri Valley Conference series.
 
Missouri State (18-12, 4-2 MVC) has now won six of its last eight games overall and improved to 5-2 at Killian Stadium this season.
 
The Bears scored twice in the second to take the early lead, getting tallies on a passed ball to score pinch runner Hannah Heinrichs and a grounder from Metter to plate Carsten Warner.
 
That score held until the top of the fourth when Valpo's Jaymee Lawton hit her ninth homer of the season to left field to make it a 2-1 game. It was the first home run allowed by MSU starter Erin Griesbauer all season.
 
But the Bears responded in the bottom of the fourth. Darby Joerling reached after being hit by a pitch and two batters later, Metter slammed her second career home run to increase MSU's lead to 4-1.
 
The Crusaders (14-12, 2-4 MVC) added a run in the top of the sixth, but Missouri State ended strong. Beason slammed a solo homer to left to start the home half of the sixth – her third of the year – and Allie Alvstad added an insurance tally later in the inning with a single down the left field line to score Kyana Mason.
 
Griesbauer closed it out with a 1-2-3 seventh inning to improve to 4-1 on the year. She struck out three Crusaders in her first complete game effort of the campaign and allowed just four hits.
 
Metter finished with three RBI, while fellow freshman Daphne Plummer smacked a third-inning double to help the Bears collect three extra-base hits on the afternoon.
 
Coming Up Next
The Bears squeeze in a non-conference game at Saint Louis on Wednesday at 4 p.m., before resuming Missouri Valley Conference play next weekend at Northern Iowa.
 
For all the latest information on the Missouri State softball team, visit MissouriStateBears.com or follow @MSUSoftball on Twitter.