DES MOINES, Iowa – It was an all-out pitcher’s duel in the No. 7 seed Illinois State softball team’s (21-32) Missouri Valley Conference Softball Championship opening-round game against No. 6 seed UNI (26-26). The Redbirds took the 4-3 lead in the top of the 10^th inning off of a Riley Strandgard home run, before relief pitcher Ali Domkuski and the defense sat the Panthers down in order in the bottom of the inning to secure the win to advance in the championship tournament.
 
Back-to-back fielder’s choices in the opening frame kept the Redbirds out of scoring position, before starting pitcher Morgan Day and the Redbird defense sent UNI down in order to close the first inning. Both sides went down in order in the second inning, before Illinois State broke open the scoring in the third. Abby Turczyn reached first base on a UNI fielding error, before a missed tag at second allowed Riley Hale on base with one out. Illinois State’s first hit of the game – a single up the middle by Shannon Felde – allowed Turczyn to cross home plate to put the Redbirds ahead, 1-0.
 
The Panthers responded in the bottom of the frame with an error and a pair of hits to knot the game at one-all. Back-to-back two-out singles by Caitlyn Daly and Brittni LaFountaine kept Illinois State’s bats going, but UNI’s defense held the Redbirds from extending their lead.
 
Each team registered a pair of hits in the fifth, but neither side could break the tie. The Redbirds were sent down in order in the sixth and seventh, before shutting down UNI to keep the Panthers out of scoring position in the seventh, to send the game into extra innings for the seventh time this season.
 
Illinois State used a four-hit eighth inning, with singles by Alyssa Wiebel, Strandgard, Daly, and a double by Andrea Coursey, to take a 3-1 advantage. UNI put the equalizer on the board in the bottom of the inning, with a two-run home run to send the game to a ninth inning.
 
Hale was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, and Wiebel knocked a two-out single, but the pair were left stranded. Relief pitcher Domkuski entered the game to take over for Day, who finished her outing with eight hits, two earned runs and a pair of walks to go with three strikeouts in eight innings of work. After issuing a two-out walk to put the go-ahead runner on for UNI, a ground out to Turczyn closed the ninth.
 
Strandgard lifted a lead-off home run over the left center field wall to give Illinois State the 4-3 lead. The senior shortstop’s long ball marked the fourth of the season and 25^th of her career. Domkuski returned to the circle in the bottom of the inning, and sent the Panthers down in order with the help of her defense, to give the Redbirds the win.
 
The Redbirds will continue their championship pursuit tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. against No. 3 seed Southern Illinois. The winner of that game will advance to play No. 2 Missouri State at 6:30 p.m.