Live blog: Bradley vs. DePaul

DePaul 2, Bradley 1 (Final)

DePaul ends Bradley’s season with a 2-1 victory.

Seventh inning (DePaul 2, Bradley 1)

Birdsong finshes her 85th consecutive inning with two strike outs and a fly out to left.

DePaul gets Bradley to go 1-2-3 in the seventh to end the game.

Sixth inning (DePaul 2, Bradley 1)

Birdsong gets a couple pop outs and a strike out for a 1-2-3 inning.

Bachkora gets a leadoff walk and O’Malley pinch runs for her. O’Malley moves to second on a ground out to third. She moves to third on a ground out to short, but Clack’s strike out ends the threat.

Fifth inning (DePaul 2, Bradley 1)

Tarulli-Fisher has a scary moment at the plate. She fouls off a 3-1 pitch, but it hits the brim of her helmet and off her face. She’s OK. She fouled off a couple more pitches before blooping a single into short left putting runners on second and third on a error.

Bradley’s plan when playing DePaul this weekend was to avoid facing Patton with runners on base. For good reason. With runners on second and third, Patton hits a two-RBI slap double off the wall in left to give DePaul a 2-1 lead.

1-2-3 inning for DePaul in Bradley’s half of the fifth.

Fourth inning (Bradley 1, DePaul 0)

Birdsong gets out of a jam with two pop ups. With runners on first and third, she gets pinch hitter Morocco to pop up to Vitale and Yniquez to pop out to Roth at third.

Wegmann gets Bradley’s first hit of the game, a grounder to center. Clack put a good hit on a ball to right center with one out, but Warren made a nice running catch to keep Wegmann on first. Wegmann stole second, Sherman walked, but Creighton struck out for the second time today to end the threat.

Third inning (Bradley 1, DePaul 0)

Another quick inning for Birdsong. This time two fly outs and a ground out. Someone in the press box just asked if a major league baseball pitcher threw a no-hitter and didn’t get the win. In fact, it happened in 1964. Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt .45s gave up zero hits in nine innings of a 1-0 loss to Cincinnati.

Bradley gets another runner on base, but still doesn’t have a hit. Roth reached first on an error by Patton at third. Roth moved to second on a grounder to Heteniak.

Second inning (Bradley 1, DePaul 0)

Short inning of work for Birdsong. She gets a strikeout, pop out to first and a ground out to third for three quick outs.

Just as quick of an inning for Heteniak. A first pitch ground out to second and two strikeouts end the 1-2-3 inning.

First inning (Bradley 1, DePaul 0)

Birdsong gets Patton the strike out around a couple pop ups to get out of the inning. Patton is 0-for-the-tournament thus far. She entered the tournament hitting .509. She hasn’t had a hit in three games for the first time this season.

Bradley strikes first. Mitchell reaches base on a walk, moves to second when Bachkora was hit by a pitch. The Braves attempted a double steal and Ashkar’s throw to third was wild, allowing Mitchell to score and Bachkora reach third. Scary moment with two outs: Voss tumbled into the bullpen down the left field line attmpting to catch a foul ball. She’s OK.

Starting lineups

Bradley is the home team again today and wearing white with red trim. DePaul is wearing black with blue trim as the visiting team.

Bradley
2b Lindsay Watkins
lf Janay Mitchell
1b Alycia Bachkora
ss Miriam Wegmann
c Jacqueline Vitale
cf Amanda Clack
dh Julie Sherman
rf Anne Creighton
3b Jackie Roth

p Ashley Birdsong

DePaul
1b Jack Tarulli-Fish
3b Amber Patton
p Becca Heteniak
c Simone Ashkar
dh Samantha Morgan (for cf Alex Morocco)
2b Brittney Yniquez
lf Marie Thompson
ss Tara Voss
rf Shea Warren

Welcome back

Bradley is back on the field warming up for an elimination game against DePaul, whom the Braves defeated Friday night, 1-0. The 15-seeded and 20th-ranked Blue Demons eliminated Illinois, 6-0, to get another shot at Bradley.

The winner of this game moves on to play Missouri in the championship game Sunday. Because of the double-elimination format, the DePaul-Bradley winner needs to beat Missouri twice to win the regional.

Bradley relaxed in the stands of University Field during DePaul’s victory over Illinois. Later the team stayed loose with fielding and hitting drills on the soccer field behind the softball field.

First pitch in a few minutes.