Wichita State gives up six-run lead to lose to Loyola
Wichita State’s softball team blew a six-run lead in the seventh inning to lose at Loyola on Sunday and missed a chance to improve its seeding in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
The fourth-seeded Shockers (34-22, 16-11 MVC) play at 4:05 p.m. Thursday at Wilkins Stadium against fifth-seeded Southern Illinois or eighth-seeded Indiana State.
The Shockers lost to Loyola 8-7 in eight innings after leading 7-1 in the seventh. The loss cost WSU a chance to pass Northern Iowa (22-27, 5-10) for third place.
Loyola (15-35, 5-21) scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh on six hits and an error to tie the game. Brooke Wyderski homered to lead off the inning against WSU’s Katie Malone. Five singles followed and Jessica Balzano, with two outs, drove in two runs to tie the score off Jenni Brooks.
In the eighth, Loyola’s Ashley Parenti doubled to drive in the winning run with one out.
Melanie Jaegers homered and drove in two runs for the Shockers, who matched last season’s win total and recorded WSU’s highest regular-season win total since the 2007 team won 36.
MVC softball
Wilkins Stadium
Thursday
No. 8 Indiana State (22-29) vs. No. 5 Southern Illinois (21-25), 11 a.m.
No. 7 Illinois State (23-30) vs. No. 6 Bradley (22-31), 1:30 p.m.
SIU-Indiana State winner vs. No. 4 Wichita State (34-22), 4:05 p.m.
Illinois State-BU winner vs. No. 3 Northern Iowa (22-27), 6:30 p.m.
Friday
SIU-Indiana State-WSU winner vs. No. 1 Drake (32-20), noon
Illinois State-BU-Northern Iowa winner vs. No. 2 Missouri State (29-24), 2:30 p.m.
Saturday
Championship, 1 p.m.
This story was originally published May 3, 2015 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Wichita State gives up six-run lead to lose to Loyola."