SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State softball’s 4-3 victory over Southern Illinois here Wednesday afternoon at Killian Stadium proved to be a historic one.
The win marked head coach Holly Hesse’s 900th career victory and it secured an undefeated home season (15-0) for the Bears, which was a Killian Stadium first. Hesse becomes just the 18th active head coach in NCAA DI with at least 900 wins. The victory also extended MSU’s home win streak to 18 games, which ranks third in NCAA Division I trailing only Oklahoma (53) and South Dakota State (24).
MSU (28-16, 18-3 MVC) was tested early on as the Salukis (30-14, 11-10 MVC) jumped out to a fast start. SIU’s Jackie Lis had the Bears’ number as she hit solo home runs in the first and third innings to give the Salukis a 2-0 lead with three innings in the books.
The Bears continued to get close as they left four runners on base through the first three innings, before the fourth inning served as a major point in the ballgame.
With runners on first and second and no outs to begin the fourth, Mackenzie Chacon came on in relief and struck out three batters, which included two swinging strikeouts with the bases loaded. The Bears carried that momentum into the home half of the inning with a Kenzie Derryberry leadoff double, a Tess Weakly single and an Annie Mueller RBI double pushing across the first run for the Bears with no outs on the board. Alex Boze then drew a walk to load the bases for MSU and two batters later, Chacon helped her own cause as she knocked a two-RBI single through the right side of the infield to propel the Bears into the lead, 3-2.
Southern Illinois’ Lis struck again with her third homer of the day in the top of the fifth inning to tie the game at 3-3, but MSU buckled down and retired the next three batters in order.
The Bears made their move for the win in the bottom of the sixth as Boze drew a leadoff walk and Kelsie Lewis laid down a bunt single to put two runners on with no outs. After a fielder’s choice and an Abby Ford stolen base, Missouri State had runners on second and third with one out. Ellie McCoy then laid down a beautiful squeeze bunt, scoring pinch runner Kim DeBold to put MSU out in front, 4-3, needing three outs in the seventh to secure the win.
SIU put two runners on base in the seventh via a one-out walk and a MSU error with two outs, but McKenzie Vaughan came into the circle needing one out and she got it, forcing a fly out to end the game to push Missouri State’s current win streak to 10 games.
Chacon went 1-for-1 at the plate with two RBI and earned the victory in the circle to improve to 9-3 on the season. The sophomore lefty tossed 3.2 innings, while allowing one earned run on three hits and striking out five Salukis. Vaughan earned her second save of the season after collecting the final out in the one-run ballgame.
At the plate, McCoy went 2-for-3 and collected an RBI on the game-winning squeeze bunt, while Mueller collected MSU’s other RBI on the afternoon.
Missouri State hits the road for the remainder of the season with a three-game MVC series at Indiana State coming up this weekend. The Bears and Sycamores will kick off the series on Friday, April 28 with first pitch set for 2 p.m. CT and the game will stream on ESPN+.
