PEORIA, Ill. - The Wichita State softball team (29-25, 13-7) got two dominating pitching performances from Margo Pruis and Ashly Bright as the Shockers swept a conference doubleheader from Bradley (22-17, 5-11) Saturday afternoon at Laura Bradley Park.

The Shocker pitching staff struck out 27 Bradley batters on the day, including Ashly Bright's 14, as she tied the school's single-game strikeout record. Pruis finished just one shy of the mark, tying her career-best with 13 strikeouts in the game one.

The first game of the day began as a pitcher's duel between Shocker starter Margo Pruis (18-11) and Bradley's Ashley Birdsong (16-10) as neither offense could get much going in the early innings. Pruis struck out seven of the first eight hitters she faced on the day before the Braves got their first threat of the afternoon in the third, thanks to Christine Cooney, who reached after being hit by a Pruis pitch. Cooney stole second, before a walk to leadoff hitter Elizabeth Wilson, gave Bradley a two-out rally in the top of the third. Pruis walked BU catcher Miriam Wegmann to load the bases, but Pruis ended the damage by striking out Trish Kowalewski to end the frame, her eighth of the afternoon.

Birdsong was just as good early on, striking out six in the first four innings of action.

The Shockers threatened for the first time in the fifth after Lisa Jones led the inning off with a single to right before advancing to second while no one was covering. A well-placed sacrifice by Erin Peters moved Jones to third, but she got no further, as Birdsong struck out Stephanie De La Riva before getting Kara L'Huillier out on a pop-up to first to end the inning.

The Braves left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth after a one-out double by Wilson and back-to-back walks by Pruis gave Bradley three runners with just one out. Pruis struck out Jessie Musgrove to earn the second out and got Amanda Clack, who was 2-for-2 at the time, to pop out to end the threat, stranding Bradley's seventh runner of the day.

WSU scored the first run of the game in the seventh as Lisa Jones reached on an error and came around to score after Birdsong issued two walks and L'Huillier poked a one-out single to left to plate Jones to give the Shockers a 1-0 lead.

Pruis issued a walk in the seventh, but ended the game with a Kowalewski fly out, giving the Shockers the 1-0 win. Pruis, who won her eighth-straight start, tied a career-high with 13 strikeouts in the game, while walking seven in the three-hit complete-game shutout. Birdsong pitched a gem as well, giving up one unearned run on four hits, while walking two and striking out eight.

Clack's 2-for-3 game at the plate was the only multiple-hit performance for either team in the first game. Katie McGeeney's nine-game hitting streak ended at nine games, as did Britnee Barnett's streak of nine-straight games with a hit.

Pruis' 18th win of the season gives her 72 for her career, which ties the school record for pitching victories held by former Shocker Lindsay Craig. Bradley also ended the Shockers' nine-game streak of scoring five or more runs.

In the second game Ashly Bright (7-9) picked up right where Pruis left off, striking out six of the first eight batters she faced. Bright got her first round of offensive support in the third, when Barnett's two-out double bounced off the left-center wall, scoring Lindsie Mitts and McGeeney to give the Shockers a 2-0 lead.

Amanda Clack ripped a one-out triple to center that took a bad hop in the grass in front of Erin Peters and touched the wall, allowing Clack to get to third and pose Bradley's first threat of the second game. Bright answered with back-to-back strikeouts, ending the threat and the fourth with no damage done.

The Shockers got three more in the sixth when Erin Peters floated a one-out double to left field that brought home Barnett, who led off the inning with a double, and Bright, giving the Shockers a 4-0 lead. Stephanie De La Riva then singled and later came around to score on an error by Bradley catcher Sara Lotte, after she sent a throw to catch Kara L'Huillier stealing into center field, allowing De La RIva to touch home from third to give WSU a 5-0 lead.

That was all the run support Bright needed on the day, as she ended the gem with a two-hit shutout, with the 14 strikeouts and just two walks. Clack took the loss for the Braves in the second game, giving up five runs on five hits in 5.1 innings of work.

The teams wrap up the series with a single game at noon on Sunday.