PEORIA, Ill. – The Drake University softball team dropped a Missouri Valley Conference doubleheader at Bradley Saturday afternoon.
 
Bradley (19-20, 12-14 MVC) rallied for a 7-5 win over Drake (17-29, 11-14 MVC) in the opening game and the Braves took game two by a score of 18-1.
 
In game one, the Bulldogs led 3-0 after one inning behind a two-run double by Emily Valtman and an RBI single by Aubree Beitzinger. Drake added two runs in the fourth after a throwing error by Bradley's catcher scored MiKayla Rice and Beitzinger and pushed Drake's lead to 5-1.
 
The Braves took the lead with a three-run sixth-inning against Emma Richards, who had replaced Nicole Timmons in the fifth. Bradley's first four batters reached and through a combination of singles, walks, a wild pitch and an error by Richards helped push three runs across for a 7-5 lead. The Bulldogs were down to their last at bat in the seventh but Valtman's lineout to the shortstop doubled off Macy Johnson, who had drawn a one out walk, to end the game.
 
Timmons allowed four earned runs on seven hits in four innings of work. Richards (1-8) went three innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits. The pair walked eight Braves combined.
 
Bradley broke open the second game with a 12-run, first-inning as it sent 15 hitters to the plate and scored three runs before one out was recorded. Mackenzie Hupke got just one out before Timmons replaced her with Drake trailing 9-0. Timmons gave up a three-run double to Navarro, who also hit a two-run home run off her in game one, for the Braves' final runs in the first.
 
Drake's lone run in the game happened in the fifth when Skylar Rigby was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Haylee Lehman, who singled through the right side to start the inning, scored.
 
Hupke (7-7) allowed 12 runs (eight earned) on six hits with two walks. Richards pitched 3.0 innings and allowed six runs (two earned) on six hits with two walks and one strikeout.
 
The teams close the series Sunday at 11 a.m.