SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the seventh inning allowed Missouri State to come from behind and grab a late 4-3 victory over the SIUE softball team Thursday afternoon at Killian Stadium.

The Cougars (6-14) had gotten out to an early 3-0 lead and took that lead into the fifth inning.  But the Bears (14-7) responded with a run in the fifth, two runs in the sixth, and the game-winning run in the final inning of play.

Thursday's contest was SIUE's final non-conference game before Ohio Valley Conference play begins this weekend.

"We played great for five innings but the last two innings were poor to say the least," Head Coach Sandy Montgomery said.  "Offensively, we were fine but defensively, we made too many mistakes that cost us.  We didn't make the plays we needed to."

SIUE got off to a fast start, scoring two runs in the opening frame.  Alex McDavid got things going with an RBI single to plate Chelsea Yankolovich before Haley Chambers followed with RBI single of her own to score Allison Smiley.

Chambers would tack on another run in the third inning for SIUE, driving in Jordan LaFave with an RBI single up the middle.

Missouri State got a run back in the fifth inning, and tied the game at 3-3 an inning later with an RBI single from Rebecca McPherson.  Chelsea Jones finished the rally with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, producing an RBI double that scored Ashley Brentz.

Chambers got the start in the circle for the Cougars, allowing four runs on eight hits while striking out three in 6.2 innings of work.

The Cougars will hold their home opener, as well as kick off their OVC schedule, when they welcome Austin Peay to Cougar Field this weekend.  The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning on 1 p.m.

This isn't the way we wanted to go into conference play, but we did have some bright spots.  Allison and Alex both made great defensive plays, but we made too many mental mistakes as a team.  You can't make mental mistakes and expect to win."