Sunday, May 7
Normal, Ill.
11 a.m.
University of Northern Iowa
32-18, 20-6
8
at
2
Illinois State
30-20, 20-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Northern Iowa
0
3
0
0
5
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8
9
2
Illinois State
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2
0
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2
5
1
UNI Softball Wins MVC Regular Season Title
5/7/2017 3:18:00 PM | Softball
NORMAL, Illinois – The University of Northern Iowa softball team captured the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title on Sunday by completing a three-game sweep of Illinois State on the Redbirds' home field.
UNI posted an 8-2 win over Illinois State to pull the Panthers into a tie with the Redbirds in the final league standings. UNI will be the No. 1 seed for the 2017 MVC Tournament that will take place May 11-13 in Normal.
2017 MVC Tournament Bracket
This marks the third regular season MVC title in program history. UNI also finished atop of the MVC standings in 2000 and 2012.
After a scoreless first for both squads, UNI put three runs on the board in the second. Freshman Sammey Bunch singled through the right side to score Alicia Crivaro to open the game's scoring. Sophomore Bailey Lange ripped a two-RBI triple down the right field line to give UNI a 3-0 cushion.
Illinois State battled back to within a single run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single and a wild pitch.
The Panthers responded to the Redbird runs with a five spot in the top of the fifth. Junior Brittney Roby got it started with an RBI double to center that scored sophomore Courtney Krodinger. Macey Wolfe followed Roby's lead with an RBI double that plated Roby. Freshman pitcher Jaclyn Spencer grounded out with the bases loaded to score Wolfe to give UNI a 6-2 lead. Bunch came through with a two-out, two-run single to score junior Kennedy Bailey and freshman Tianna Drahn.
Spencer claimed the win as she worked the first four innings and gave up three hits and two runs while striking out two. The victory gives her a team-best 14 wins on the season. Senior Alyssa Buchanan came on in relief of Spencer and tallied her second save of the season. Buchanan gave up only two hits and struck out four in the final three innings of work as she did not allow a run.
UNI's 20 wins in MVC play are the second-most victories in program history in league play. UNI won a team-best 21 MVC games in 2012 when the Panthers also captured the league regular season crown.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Spencer, Jaclyn (14-7)
L: Finck, Sarah (21-10)
S: Buchanan, Alyssa (2)
Batting:
2B: Roby, Brittney 1 ; Wolfe, Macey 1
3B: Lange, Bailey 1
RBI: Roby, Brittney 1 ; Wolfe, Macey 1 ; Spencer, Jaclyn 1 ; Bunch, Sammey 3 ; Lange, Bailey 2
SH: Spencer, Jaclyn 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Roby, Brittney 1 ; Wolfe, Macey 1 ; Bailey, Kennedy 1 ; Varriano, Anna 1 ; Drahn, Tianna 1 ; Bunch, Sammey 1 ; Krodinger, Courtney 1 ; Crivaro, Alicia 1
HBP: Krodinger, Courtney 1
Batting:
RBI: Strandgard, Riley 1
Base Running:
RUNS: de los Reyes, Jordan 1 ; Strandgard, Riley 1
CS: Hale, Riley 1 ; Caliva, Alex 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
3
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
1B
/ Softball
RHP
/ SoftballINF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
3B/P/UTIL
/ Softball
P/OF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
P/OF/1B
/ SoftballOF
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