PEKIN, Ill. -- Senior Brittany Dehler (Bishop Hill, Ill./Galva H.S.) has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week according to an announcement by the league office Monday afternoon. Dehler earned Valley Pitcher of the Week honors for the first time in her career and is the first Bradley pitcher to earn the award since the 2002 season.

Dehler went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and earned MVP honors at the Bradley Invitational this past weekend. She earned two of the Braves four victories on the week, en route to helping Bradley to a 4-0 record and the tournament title. Dehler struck out 13 batters in 11 innings of work and surrendered just eight hits in her two appearances while becoming the fourth player in program history to record 300 career strikeouts.

She earned the victory in the season opener against Western Illinois, striking out eight betters in four innings of work in the Braves 4-0 win. Dehler followed that with a complete game shutout in the championship game of the tournament. She scattered five hits and struck out five in the Braves 1-0 win against Big 10 Conference foe Purdue, to lead the Braves to the tournament title and the team's best start since opening the 1995 season with seven consecutive victories.

Dehler is the first Bradley softball player to earn any Valley player of the week honors since Rachel Gensch was named the MVC Player of the Week on April 2, 2002 and is the first Brave to earn Valley Pitcher of the Week honors since Kacie Flinn earned the award on March 4, 2002.

Bradley returns to action Friday when the Braves open play at the Frost Classic in Chattanooga, Tenn. Bradley will face North Florida at 12:15 p.m. and tournament host Tennessee-Chattanooga at 4:45 p.m.