PEORIA, Ill. -- First-year Bradley head coach Amy Hayes announced the Braves Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year recently, naming senior Alycia Bachkora (Overland Park, Kan./Notre Dame de Sion) and junior Janay Mitchell (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South) as co-Offensive Players of the Year, while junior Amanda Clack (Hillsboro, Mo./Hillsboro) was selected as the team's Defensive Player of the Year.
A Second-Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V selection this spring, Bachkora was also a Second-Team All-Missouri Valley Conference performer in her final season on The Hilltop. She led the team with a Bradley season-record 10 home runs and also matched the school season-mark for walks with 25.
The team leader with 34 RBI and a .552 slugging percentage, she also tied for the team lead with 10 doubles and two triples while ranking second with 21 runs scored. Bachkora was named to the All-Tournament team after helping Bradley to its first State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. She finished her career tied for the most home runs in program history with 16 and led the MVC this season with eight home runs in league play.
A First-Team MVC Scholar-Athlete, Bachkora's 34 RBI this year is the seventh-best season total in school history and most by a BU player since 2004. She also ranks among Bradley's career leaders in walks (53) and slugging percentage (.422).
Mitchell led the team with a .293 batting average in addition to leading the squad with seven runs scored and 13 stolen bases. An honorable mention MVC Scholar-Athlete, Her .365 on base percentage tied for second on the team and she led the Braves with a .362 batting average in Missouri Valley Conference play. Mitchell's 13 stolen bases were the most by a Bradley player since 2004 and she is just the fifth player in program history to lead the team in batting average in consecutive seasons.
The catalyst for the Braves offense during their 10-game win streak late in the season, she had a team-best .464 batting average and nine runs scored during the stretch. Mitchell hit .308 during MVC Tournament play with two runs scored to help Bradley to its first-ever title. The MVC Player of the Week for the week of May 4, she was selected as the Prairie Farms MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week for the same week and was a two-time Bradley Country Financial Scholar-Athlete of the Week pick during the season.
Clack was one of two starters on the team with a perfect fielding percentage, going errorless in 83 chances in the field. The Braves starting centerfielder, she made her biggest defensive play of the year in the championship game of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
With the Braves holding a 2-0 lead with one out in the fifth inning and a runner on first, Clack made a leaping catch at the fence to rob Creighton's Bailey Dawson of a game-tying home run. Clack and the Braves went on to clame the team's first-ever MVC Tournament title and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first-time in program history.
