2015 MVC Softball Tournament

[flyingMoose]

Against Illinois State, the Missouri State players are wearing a lot of orange to honor their leukemia-stricken teammate. Orange shoe strings, orange bear logo on the helmets, orange bows.

[flyingMoose]

Game Six

Illinois State 1-3 Missouri State

The Bears' Erin Streumph gave up a homer in the first inning but held the Redbirds scoreless the rest of the way, giving up five hits for the game. Missouri State scored three in the fifth on a single, homer, single and double. Illinois State managed to get runners on second and third with one out in the sixth but could not dent the plate. The Bears had seven hits.

#2 Missouri State and #8 Indiana State meet tomorrow for the Valley's bid to the NCAAs.

[flyingMoose]

Championship Game

#8 Indiana State 9-2 #2 Missouri State

A three-hitter by Taylor Lockwood led the Sycamores to the Tournament Championship and the Valley's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Indiana State took a 2-0 lead into the fourth inning where they scored four more and took control of the game. Another three runs in the fifth gave the Sycamores a 9-0 lead, but there was a two hour, twenty-five minute weather delay before the Bears batted in the bottom of the fifth. Their runs came on a two-run homer in the sixth.

The following is a quote from the thread when the Shockers hosted Indiana State. "Taylor Lockwood, the Sycamore pitcher, managed to spin the ball enough and throw enough changes to keep the Shockers off balance for the whole day." This was true for Lockwood for the tournament. She hit her spots and rarely left a pitch on the plate. The small-ball offense continued for Indiana State. They had twelve hits with only one of those for extra bases.

Indiana State is the first #8 seed to win the tournament. The Selection Show is Sunday at 9pm on ESPNU.

[Steeleshocker]

It is for this reason I think the format of the tournament needs to be revised. Clearly having the bye round in this tournament is not nearly as advantageous as it is for basketball.

[WuDrWu]

What I don't get, in a sport that plays double headers all the time, why is it single elimination? I get in a one bid league why you want to reward the regular season champ...I get it. Still, it's a great day to play 2.