PEORIA, Ill. -- Sophomore utility player Trish Kowalewski (Yorkville, Ill./Downers Grove North) was named to the preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference squad and the Bradley softball team was picked to finish eighth in the preseason coaches poll, according to a release by the league office.
Kowalewski is coming off a record-setting performance as a freshman, leading the team in batting average (.326), doubles (13), home runs (7) and slugging percentage (.563). She is the first freshman to lead Bradley in batting average since Sharon Kempf hit .389 in 1988 and her 13 doubles and seven home runs were both school freshman records. Kowalewski's .563 slugging percentage and seven home runs both rank third among Bradley season marks.
Bradley returns 13 of 17 letterwinners, including six starting position players from last year's team that finished 16-35 overall and 10th in the Valley with a 3-23 record. In addition to the experience returning, first-year Bradley head coach Buddy Foster has welcomed eight newcomers, including seven freshmen for 2006.
"This is a tremendous honor for Trish," Foster said. "I'm also glad to see that the other coaches feel that we can be more competitive in the league this spring. We had a good fall season and made some significant strides that will only help us continue to improve. The first couple of weeks of practice have gone well, but we are anxious to take the field in the next few weeks."
The Braves received 25 points in the preseason poll to rank eighth. Bradley edged Evansville (9th - 24 points) and Indiana State (10th - 22 points) in the vote among the Valley's 10 coaches. Wichita State received seven of 10 first-place votes and a total of 93 points to finish one point ahead of Southern Illinois, which finished second in the poll with 92 points and two first-place votes.
Illinois State earned one first-place vote and finished third in the preseason rankings with 77 points, while Creighton and Missouri State were fourth and fifth with 67 and 66 points, respectively. Drake was picked to finish sixth with 47 points and Northern Iowa was seventh with 37 points.
Bradley opens the 2006 season at home when the Braves host the Bradley Invite Feb. 24-26 at the Dragon's Dome in Pekin, Ill. The tournament which was made possible thanks in part to a grant by the Pekin Visitors Bureau, will include Big 10 Conference foe Purdue, Mid-Continent Conference power Western Illinois, fellow Missouri Valley Conference foe Northern Iowa, in addition to Northern Illinois and IUPUI.
Admission to the tournament will be $5 for adults and $2 for children and seniors for each day. All session tickets will be available at the Bradley Ticket Office for a cost of $10. Friday's action will include three games beginning at 3 p.m. A total of six games will be played on Saturday beginning at 9:30 a.m. and the tournament will conclude on Sunday with the fifth-place game (10 a.m.), third-place game (noon) and championship (2 p.m.).
