CARBONDALE, Ill. – Wichita State defeated the Drake University softball team, 5-0, in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game at Charlotte West Stadium.
 
Drake (30-24) started the game by putting base runners on in each of the first five innings. The Bulldogs were struck with bad luck as Wichita State (35-19) turned double plays on hard-hit line drives in three of those innings, including one in the fourth inning that ended the frame with a Bulldog on third base.
 
Wichita State scored its first run in the game with a sacrifice fly in the second inning. Sophomore Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) allowed a leadoff double and the runner advanced on a sacrifice bunt before coming in on Ashley Johnson's sac fly.
 
The Shockers scored their final four runs in the fifth inning as they started the frame with four consecutive hits that plated three runs. Later, the fourth and final run of the game came on Brittany Fortner's RBI double.
 
Drake failed to record a hit in the final two innings of play. Sophomore leadoff hitter Kelsey Wright (Olathe, Kan.) paced the Bulldogs with three hits while Newman added two. Sophomore Kailee Smith (Murrieta, Calif.) and freshman Kennedy Frank (Chesterfield, Mo.) each had one hit.
 
Newman took the loss in the circle as she allowed five runs on nine hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Newman, the 2016 MVC Pitcher of the Year, finished the season with an impressive 22-13 record along with a program-record and league-leading 286 strikeouts.
 
Newman, Smith and Wright were each selected to the 2016 MVC All-Tournament team. Junior Kaitlyn Finneran (Morrison, Ill.) was honored with the prestigious MVC Elite 18 award that is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average competing at the championship site. Finneran holds an impressive 3.88 GPA in biology and is the fourth Drake student-athlete to win the award this school year.
 
Drake will bring back an experienced team in 2017 with an expected roster that will contain four seniors, four juniors, four sophomore and a four-member incoming freshman class.