NORMAL, Ill. – In the third and final game of their series against Illinois State, the Wichita State softball team fell to the Redbirds 9-8 on a walk-off in the seventh inning on Sunday afternoon.

Katie Malone got the start in the circle for the Shockers in game three, making it her second start of the weekend. Malone threw 1.1 innings before Ashlynne Neil entered the game and threw 3.2 innings and only allowing one run. Jenni Brooks entered the game in the sixth and took a three run lead into the seventh. Wichita State gave up four runs in the seventh and Brooks received the loss to put her record at 10-4.

Brittany Fortner led things off in the first inning with a walk and later scored on a ground ball from Macklin Hitz to take a 1-0 lead.

The Shockers lead was quickly erased in the bottom of the first after a leadoff single, a hit-by-pitch and Jordan de los Reyes hit a three run home run over the leftfield wall to take a 3-1 lead.

In the bottom of the second inning, the Redbirds extended their lead scoring one run to make the score 4-1.

Wichita State loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the third but were only able to scratch across one run on a sac-fly from Hitz to make the score 4-2.

Payton Billups of Illinois State quickly responded in the bottom of the third with a one out solo home run to push the lead back to three, 5-2.

In the top of the fifth inning, Macklin Hitz reached base on an error by the right fielder. With Hitz on second, Williams singled into centerfield and advanced to second base on the throw. Wright then reached on an error by the third baseman that also scored a run. Both Williams and Wright came around to score on a pinch-hit double down the leftfield line to tie the game at five.

Jenni Brooks entered the game in the sixth inning as the Redbirds went down in order. In the top of the seventh, Cacy Williams led off the inning with a single. After being moved to second on a ground ball from Wright, Laurie Anne Derrico drove in Williams on a double down the leftfield line to take a 6-5 lead.

With runners on first and third, Fortner hit a single to leftfield that scored a run. After a pitching change, Kelli Spring also singled into centerfield to give the Shockers an 8-5 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Shockers committed three errors and gave up one hit, letting the Redbirds score four runs and take the 9-8 victory.

Wichita State is now 20-13 overall and 6-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Shockers will be in action again on Wednesday as they travel to Norman, Okla., to take on No. 14 Oklahoma in a single game at 6 p.m.