The Valpo softball team dropped the rubber game of its MVC series at Murray State Saturday afternoon, falling to the host Racers by a 2-0 final.
 
How It Happened

• Murray State opened the scoring with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the third.
• Valpo had its best scoring chance in the fourth, as Mack Gallagher (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East [MSU Moorhead]), Cadan Brinkman (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community [Campbell/Wofford) and Marissa Jackson (Willis, Mich./Huron) tallied back-to-back singles with one out to load the bases. But a pair of pop-ups on the infield kept the Beacons off the board.
• A one-out single in the fifth and a two-out single in the seventh were Valpo's only baserunners in the final three innings, with neither advancing past first base.
• The Racers capped the scoring with an RBI base hit in the bottom of the sixth.

 
Inside the Game

• Gallagher extended her on-base streak to open the season to 24 straight games with her fourth-inning single, tied for second-longest by a Valpo player in the last 20 years.
• Valpo's top two hitters this season by batting average, Jackson and Madison Vrastil (Oak Forest, Ill./Andrew) each picked up two hits on Saturday. It was Vrastil's 11^th multi-hit game of the campaign and the sixth for Jackson.
• Vrastil was caught attempting to steal second after her leadoff single in the first, the first time in her career she has been caught stealing after starting 34-for-34 on the basepaths.
• Sydney McDermott (Stout, Ohio/Portsmouth West) took the loss in the circle despite giving up just one run in three innings of work.

 
Next Up
Valpo (10-14, 1-4 MVC) will make a quick detour on its way back to Northwest Indiana Sunday afternoon, stopping off for a nonconference doubleheader at IU Indy. First pitch of game one is slated for noon CT.