PALO ALTO, Calif. — San Jose, Calif., native Shannon King (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) went 4-for-4 with a double, triple and three runs scored to help Bradley to a 7-4 victory against Pacific Friday afternoon at the Stanford Nike Invitational.
Bradley (1-5 overall) had the leadoff person reach in each inning and drew nine base on balls against Pacific (1-2 overall) pitchers Friday. King’s 4-for-4 effort coupled with a 2-for-3 day by senior Mariah Cole (Springfield, Ill./Chatham Glenwood) and 3-for-5 effort by Brianne Joseph (Post Falls, Idaho/Post Falls) proved to be the difference as the trio combined for nine of Bradley’s 12 hits on the day. The bottom third of the order along with leadoff hitter Joseph went a combined 10-for-14 with five runs, three RBI, two doubles and one triple.
Pacific capitalized on a Bradley error in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead, but the Braves answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the frame. Joseph doubled to open the inning and fellow senior Bailiegh Basham (Mattoon, Ill./Mattoon/Lake Land C.C.) followed with a single. Joseph later scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 1-1.
Two more BU errors in the top of the second led to another run for the Tigers as Bradley fell behind 2-1. King led off the bottom of the second with a double and scored on a Brittany Burgess (Utica, Ill./St. Bede) single. Basham drew a walk to load the bases and senior Alex Chandler (Needles, Calif./Needles) had a bases loaded two-out walk on four pitches to give the Braves a 3-2 lead. Junior Alyson Clemente (Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta Valley) also drew a two-out, bases loaded walk as Bradley built a 4-2 advantage through two innings.
King tripled to lead off the bottom of the third and Bradley eventually loaded the bases for sophomore Kathryn Spenn (Williamsville, Ill./Williamsville), who drew the third bases loaded walk of the game to push the BU lead to 5-2.
In the fourth, King loaded the bases with a single for her third hit of the contest. Sophomore Kendall Duffy (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) scored to make it 6-2 in favor of the Braves on a Burgess sacrifice fly and King came around to score on a Joseph single.
Bradley’s fourth error of the game allowed Pacific to score a run in the fifth and the Tigers pushed another run across with two outs in the top of the seventh before senior pitcher Madeline Lynch-Crumrine (Sedro-Woolley, Wash./Sedro-Woolley) was able to close out the victory. The win was Lynch-Crumrine’s 30th career victory and she pushed her career strikeout total to 299. She gave up one earned run and scattered six hits in the complete game effort.
The Braves continue play at the Stanford Invitational later tonight with a 6:45 p.m. (CST) game against #14 Stanford.
