EAST PEORIA, Ill. -- Senior Anne Creighton (Glide, Ore./Glide) hit the first home run of her career and senior Ashley Birdsong (Otie, Ore./Otis) picked up her seventh consecutive victory as the duo helped the Bradley softball team to a 4-2 victory over Northern Iowa Thursday night in the second round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Softball Tournament at the EastSide Centre. The Braves will face #2 seed Southern Illinois Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the MVC Tournament semifinals.

The Braves (23-26 overall) needed extra innings earlier in the day, topping #7 seed Missouri State 3-2 in eight innings in the opening round of the tournament. Bradley kept that momentum in the early going against Northern Iowa (34-22 overall), scoring in each of the first three innings.

Junior Lindsay Watkins (Hopedale, Ill./Olympia/Parkland) led off the game with a single for the Braves and a UNI error and base on balls quickly loaded the bases with no outs. Senior Miriam Wegmann (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) gave Bradley a 1-0 lead when she lifted a sacrifice fly to center field, allowing Watkins to race home. Junior Janay Mitchell (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South) was thrown out trying to advance to third on the play and the Panthers escaped the jam by giving up only one run.

Creighton, who entered the season with one career hit, pushed Bradley’s lead to 2-0 with a two-out opposite-field solo homer in the top of the second. The home run was the first of Creighton’s career.

The Braves added two more runs in the top of the third inning to extend their lead to 4-0. Mitchell had a one-out single and senior Alycia Bachkora (Overland Park, Kan./Notre Dame de Sion) ripped a double off the right center field fence to put runners at second and third and chase UNI starting pitcher Jen Larsen. Wegmann was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Mitchell was able to score on a wild pitch. Junior Jacqueline Vitale (Indian Head Park, Ill./Lyons Township) drew a walk to load the bases and junior Amand Clack (Hillsboro, Mo./Hillsboro) drove in Bachkora from third on a groundout.

Bradley nearly broke the contest open in the top of the fourth inning thanks to three Northern Iowa errors. Creighton reached on an error to open the inning and advanced all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt. Creighton was thrown out at the plate when Watkins hit into a field’s choice. UNI errors on back-to-back plays loaded the bases, but UNI hurler Jaye Hutcheson got a ground ball out to get out of the inning unscathed.

The Panthers were finally able to scratch out a run off Birdsong in the bottom of the sixth inning. Megan Machovec led off with a single and Larsen drew a one out walk. Rachel Gerking drove in Machovec from second with a single through the left side of the infield. With runners at first and second and two outs, Vitale was called for catcher’s interference to load the bases, but Birdsong retired Brittney Balduff to end the inning as the Braves took a 4-1 lead into the seventh.

Bradley was retired in order in the top half of the seventh inning and the Panthers tried to mount a seventh-inning rally in the bottom half of the frame. A Bradley error to open the inning was followed by a Hanna Borschel base on balls. The Braves were able to turn a double play when Machovec hit a liner to shortstop, but MVC Newcomer of the Year Mackenzie Daigh roped a single through the right side of the infield to drive in pinch runner Allison Galvin and trim the Braves’ lead to 4-2. Birdsong got Larsen to ground out to third base to close out the 4-2 win as she picked up her seventh consecutive win in as many outings.

The win extended the Braves’ season-long win streak to seven, marking the longest win streak since the 2004 season. In addition, Bradley won two games in the MVC Tournament for the first time with the single-elimination format and first time since 1996 under any format. The Braves are one of the final four teams in the MVC Tournament since finishing second to Missouri State in 1996.

The State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament continues Friday with a pair of semifinal matchups. Top-seed Creighton faces #8-seed Indiana State at noon, followed by #6 seed Bradley taking on #2 seed Southern Illinois at 2:30 p.m. at EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Ill., with the winners advancing to Saturday’s 3 p.m. championship game. A free video stream of both semifinal games is available at www.mvc-sports.com