DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake Bulldogs softball team clinched the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference regular season title by sweeping the Illinois State Redbirds on Saturday afternoon. Drake won by scores of 1-0 and 9-0 over Illinois State in the doubleheader to earn its first MVC regular season title since the 1993 season.

Drake (32-19, 19-5 MVC) senior Rebekah Schmidt (Cottage Grove, Minn.) had a great day in the circle and at the plate in the two games. Schmidt pitched a shutout in game one equaling her career-high in strikeouts with 11 while allowing just four hits and not walking a batter to get the win and move to 19-13 overall. She also drove in the game's only run with a RBI single in the second inning that plated senior Hayley Nybo (Minnetonka, Minn.). Schmidt finished 2-for-2 at the plate with one single and one double.

In the second game, Drake was leading 2-0, in the first inning when Schmidt broke open the game with her second career grand slam to extend the lead to 6-0.

Freshman Kelsey Wright (Olathe, Kan.) added a solo home run in the second inning to push the lead to 7-0. Drake ended the game early with two more runs in the fourth inning as sophomores Ashlie Chambers (Ankeny, Iowa) and Kaitlyn Finneran (Morrison, Ill.) had back-to-back RBI-singles.

Freshman pitcher Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) allowed just two hits while striking out nine Redbirds to improve to 13-4.

Nybo, who is already the schools all-time leader in career home runs and runs batted in, had one double in the first game and is now tied for the all-time career mark in doubles with 42. Pam Schaffrath had 42 from 1990-93. She went 4-for-6 in the doubleheader as her average jumped to a team-high .341.

The Bulldogs and Redbirds will play a single contest on Sunday to close the series with first pitch set for noon.