The Standard

Issue date: 5/6/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Matt Moore

It was a disappointing finish to the regular season for the Missouri State softball team, getting swept in a three-game series on the road against the Creighton Bluejays this past weekend.

Offensive woes plagued Missouri State all series long as the Bears would score their one and only run of the series in a 6-1 defeat in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.

In that game, Lauren McGinley the took mound and held Creighton scoreless through three innings of play, before allowing back-to-back homeruns, including a grand slam as part of a five-run fourth inning to give the Bluejays a 5-0 lead.

Junior Jessie Smith would break the Bears' scoring slump in the sixth with a solo homerun.

Missouri State's fortunes wouldn't get much better in its second game as Creighton shutout the Bears 4-0 en route to its second consecutive regular season Missouri Valley Conference title.

Although unable to score a run, Missouri State produced five hits while starting pitcher Melissa Porche allowed all four runs while striking out eight.

Porche would rebound the following day as she and Creighton's ace Tara Oltman turned Sunday's contest in to a pitcher's duel, with the Bluejays edging Missouri State 1-0.

Creighton's lone run would come off of the only hit Porche would allow in the game, a solo homerun in the third inning by Michelle Koch.

Though unable to score, the Bears out-hit the Bluejays three hits to one while not committing any errors.

"I thought we got better each time we played them which was positive," coach Holly Hesse said. "I thought that today especially, we were phenomenal, with the exception of being unable to score."

Missouri State finishes the regular season with a 25-21 overall record and 11-13 in the MVC.

The sweep drops the Bears from fifth place in the MVC to seventh, setting them up to play sixth-seed Evansville in the MVC Tournament this Thursday in Carbondale, Ill.

While she obviously would have liked to finish higher, Hesse said the seeding is not a big deal.

"On one hand, we certainly hoped to finish higher than seventh, on the other hand, I think all the teams in the league are very comparable," she said. "I don't think there's very much difference. I think two through eight are all very similar. To me it's just a number."

Playing Evansville in the first round looks to be a break for Missouri State as the Bears took two of three games on the road in the regular season against the Purple Aces.

"I think the bracket is set up perfect for us," Hesse said. "We start with a team that we won the series against and scored 11 runs off of."

If Missouri State wins, Southern Illinois would be next.

"We had a very tight series with them, but we scored nine runs off of them in three games, so we know we can hit their pitching."

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