SPRINGFIELD – Madison Hunsaker’s three-run homer in the fifth put Missouri State ahead for good, and Steffany Dickerson took care of the rest with 10 strikeouts to lift the Bears (27-18) to their first Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title in 11 years with a 10-4 victory over top-seeded Northern Iowa.
Hunsaker drove in four runs, while Tess Weakly — whose solo homer in the sixth made it a 6-3 game — drove in three. Dickerson (21-7) sent the distance in the circle, allowing six hits and walking just one to lead the Bears to the NCAA Tournament.
The Bears struggled early in the game, snagging an early 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Alex Boze before UNI responded with three unanswered runs. The Panthers (32-14) scored twice in the bottom of the first two capitalize on three MoState errors.
The UNI lead held until a 44-minute lightning delay seemed to spark Missouri State. The Bears played three in the fifth, one in the sixth and four more in the top of the seventh to put things out of reach.
Taylor Hogan led UNI with two hits, while Sammy Moss had the Panthers’ only extra-base hit of the afternoon with a double in the first.
Senior Payton Minnis also was instrumental in the victory for Missouri State with a 2-for-2 effort off the bench with a pair of runs scored.
With the win, the Bears will earn the MVC’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, whose field will be announced Sunday at 6 p.m. on ESPN2. It will be MSU’s seventh NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2011.
