SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State softball (13-28, 9-11 MVC) collected its first series sweep of the season with a 5-4 walk-off victory against Valparaiso (8-32, 2-15 MVC) here Sunday afternoon. 
 
The Sunday series finale saw a major battle between the Bears and Beacons. Across the first two innings, neither team had a base hit with four total runners getting on base via walks or an error, but both teams came up empty on the scoreboard. 
 
Missouri State struck first in the bottom of the third inning as Chloe Merced drew a four-pitch walk to lead off the inning. From there, Ellie McCoy and Olivia Krehbiel both knocked base hits through the left side to load the bases with no outs. Kayla Ulrich then collected an RBI with a fielder's choice sacrifice fly to left field to put the Bears on the board. The Bears looked to make it another big inning as Annie Mueller came to the plate with two runners on, and right on cue she launched a ball over the left field wall for a three-run shot to make it 4-0 in favor of MSU. The long ball marked the 13^th homer of the season for Mueller. 
 
Following a fairly quiet fourth inning, Valparaiso delivered a big punch in the fifth, scoring four runs on four hits and a MSU error in the frame. A leadoff home run finally got the Beacons on the board, before back-to-back one-out singles put more pressure on the Bears. Valparaiso's best hitter this season, Regi Hecker, then came to the plate and delivered a three-run homer herself to tie the game at 4-4 with five innings in the books. 
 
As the game entered the seventh still tied at 4-4, the Beacons threatened to take the lead. After a leadoff single, a sacrifice bunt moved the go-ahead run into scoring position. Following a foul out, the Bears put Hecker on base intentionally, giving Valpo two runners on with two outs. Gracie Johnston forced a ground ball to third base and Krehbiel stepped on the bag for the force out to end the inning, giving the Bears a chance to walk it off in the home half of the inning. 
 
Emily Chadwick led off the seventh with a single to third base, before Merced laid down a beautiful bunt and was easily safe at first with nobody covering the bag. With two runners on and no outs, Krehbiel delivered a walk-off double to right center field as the Bears secured the series sweep with a 5-4 win. 
 
Krehbiel owned Missouri State's lone multiple hit outing on the afternoon with a 2-for-4 performance that included an RBI. Meanwhile, Mueller kept swinging a hot bat as she went 1-for-3 at the plate with three RBI and a run scored. In the circle, Johnston earned her second win of the series and fourth victory of the season with the complete game effort.  
 
In the series, the Bears batted .394 as a team and outscored the Beacons, 27-5. 
 
The Bears will be back on the road this week for four Missouri Valley Conference games. MSU will travel to Southern Illinois for a midweek matchup on Wednesday, April 24 before heading to Evansville for a three-game series against the Aces from April 26-28.