OMAHA, Neb. – Bradley used a three-run sixth inning to rally for a 3-2 victory against league-leading Creighton in the opener, but the Bluejays rallied from behind for a 6-5 extra-inning victory in the nightcap as the teams split a doubleheader Saturday afternoon at the Creighton Sports Complex.

Junior Madeline Lynch-Crumrine (Sedro-Woolley, Wash./Sedro-Woolley) picked up the victory in the opener, striking out a career-high eight batters and scattering five hits in the victory in addition to a 3-for-8 day at the plate.

Creighton (20-11 overall, 6-2 MVC) maintained a half-game lead on Bradley (20-13 overall, 5-2 MVC) with the doubleheader split. 

The Braves threatened in the top of the third of the opener after loading the bases, but came up empty.  The Bluejays collected three of their five hits in the game in the first three innings and took a 1-0 lead on an Amy Baker solo homer in the bottom of the fifth.

Bradley answered with three runs in the top of the sixth after Lynch-Crumrine led off the inning with a single.  The Braves had runners at first and second following a Bailiegh Basham (Mattoon, Ill./Mattoon single and freshman Kathryn Spenn (Williamsville, Ill./Williamsville) drew a walk to load the bases.  Junior Marina Groenewegen (Surrey, British Columbia/Elgin Park Secondary/Southern Idaho) drove in a run with an infield single to tie things at 1-1 and Bradley took a 2-1 lead when freshman Rachel Huggins (Mt. Zion, Ill./Mt. Zion) reached on a catcher's interference.  Sophomore Shannon King (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) made it a 3-1 BU advantage with a bases loaded walk. 

A walk and Bradley error to open the bottom half of the sixth gave Creighton runners at first and second with no outs, but Lynch-Crumrine settled down to strike out the next three batters and get out of the jam.  The Bluejays managed to push a run across in the bottom of the seventh, however, cutting the Bradley lead to 3-2 on a two-out run scoring single off the bat of Alexis Cantu.  Lynch-Crumrine got Bri Lingl to fly out to end the contest and improved to 12-6 on the year with the victory, while Creighton's Becca Changstrom fell to 13-6.

In the nightcap, Bradley scored two early runs and built a 5-2 lead with a pair of runs in the sixth, before Creighton rallied to win the contest 6-5 in eight innings and salvage a split of the doubleheader. 

Lynch-Crumrine got things started with a one-out double in the top of the first and scored on a Basham single.  Basham later scored when junior Alex Chandler (Needles, Calif./Needles) reached on an error as the Braves jumped out to a 2-0 lead.

Creighton capitalized on a Bradley error in the bottom of the second to pull within a run (2-1).  A walk and BU error put runners at second and third with one out for Blake Ringle, who hit a pinch-hit, bases loaded sacrifice fly to drive in the first Bluejay run of the game. 

Sophomore Brittany Burgess (Utica, Ill./St. Bede) singled to open the Bradley half of the fourth and came around to score when Lynch-Crumrine reached on a Creighton error as the Braves pushed the advantage to 3-1.

The Bluejays answered with run in the bottom half of the inning, however, on a Ringle RBI double to trim the BU lead to 3-2.

Burgess led off the top of the sixth with a single and scored on a Groenewegen double down the left field line.  Groenewegen later scored on a two-out Huggins single up the middle to push the Bradley lead to three runs (5-2).

Creighton would answer in bottom half of the sixth with a three-run homer by Ellen Homan to pull even at 5-5 and the Bluejays threatened to end the game in the bottom of the seventh.  With a runner at third and only one out, MaKenzie Michael hit a grounder back to Bradley pitcher Mackenzie Camp (Mapleton, Ill./Limestone), who threw out pinch runner Erin McGonigal at the plate for the second out of the inning and the teams went to extra innings knotted at 5-5.  The extra-inning contest was Bradley's third in the last five outings.

Changstrom retired Bradley in order in the eighth and delivered the game-winning hit in the bottom half of the inning as the Bluejays rallied for the 6-5 win.  Homan had a one-out single and Creighton had runners at first and second after a sacrifice bunt and intentional walk.  Changstrom plated Homan with the game-winning run with a double to right center to complete the Creighton rally and help the Bluejays hold onto their half-game lead over the Braves in the Valley standings with the win.

Camp suffered the loss for Bradley to drop to 8-6 on the year.  She struck out eight and walked six in the complete game loss.

Bradley and Creighton close out the three-game series Sunday with a single game at noon in Omaha, Neb.