Last Week
Bradley played the final road games of the 2011 season, dropping both games of a doubleheader at Northern Iowa Wednesday, before traveling to Evansville, Ind., to take two of three games from the Purple Aces. Senior Kate Singler homered for the fourth time in five games with a two-run homer in the nightcap of the doubleheader at Northern Iowa. The Braves fell to Evansville 4-2 in the series opener Friday, before posting 10-2 and 4-1 wins Saturday to take two of three games from the Purple Aces. BU moved within one game of Evansville in the Valley standings heading into the final week of the regular-season with the series victory.
Wichita State Series
Bradley closes out the 2011 regular season at home with a three-game series against Wichita State Friday and Saturday. The Shockers hold a 42-25 lead in the all-time series with the Braves after taking all three games in last year's season series in Wichita, Kan. Wichita State plays a midweek game at Missouri State before traveling to Peoria for the three-game series at Laura Bradley Park.
Weekend Activities
It will be a busy weekend for the Braves, kicking off the final home weekend with the team's annual banquet Friday night. Saturday's doubleheader will be Pink Day at Laura Bradley Park with the first 200 fans receiving a pink Bradley Athletics t-shirt. Saturday will also be alumni day with Bradley softball alumni recognized between games. Bradley's five seniors will be recognized prior to Sunday's regular-season finale and the team will be presenting Julie Prill with a new wheelchair following Sunday's contest.
Fairbairn's Hit Streak Hits 11 Games
Senior Brittany Fairbairn heads into the final weekend of the regular season with a career-best 11-game hit streak. In fact, Fairbairn's 11-game streak is the longest for a Bradley player since Trish Kowalewski boasted an 11-game hit streak during the 2005 season. Fairbairn, who leads the MVC with six triples, has a team-best 54 hits on the year and leads Bradley with a .378 batting average in conference play. Junior Julie Sherman had a career-best 11-game hit streak of her own ended in the series finale against Evansville. A Bradley player has not had a hit streak of better than 11 games in the last decade.
Senior Day
This weekend's three-game series against Wichita State will mark the final home games for Bradley's five seniors. Katie Dennis has battled injuries all season and made just five appearances out of the bullpen this year. Brittany Fairbairn is hitting .338 with nine doubles, six triples, 24 runs scored, 21 RBI and 13 stolen bases. Denise Jilka played in a total of 51 games her first three seasons due to injuries, but has started 42 of 44 games she has appeared in this year and is third on the team in walks (12) and fielding percentage. Pekin, Ill., native Katelyn Kegley drove in six runs in the doubleheader sweep at Evansville Saturday and is hitting .381 in her last seven games. Kate Singler leads the squad with 27 RBI and is looking to become the fifth player in program history to lead the team in RBI in back-to-back years.
Battling For Position
Bradley's series win at Evansville put the Braves one game back of the Purple Aces for the eighth and final spot in the upcoming State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament (May 12-14) in Springfield, Mo. Seven of the eight spots have been secured with Evansville, Bradley and Indiana State battling for the final spot in the field. The Braves need to win at least one game in the weekend series against Wichita State. Bradley has to win one more game than the Purple Aces to move ahead of UE in the standings.
Hitting The Long Ball
Senior Kate Singler collected her fourth home run in five games Wednesday with a two-run blast in the second game of Bradley's doubleheader at Northern Iowa. Singler's eight home runs on the year are tied for the second best season total in program history, behind Alycia Bachkora's school record 10 home runs in 2009; and she has moved into a tie with Kim Suffield and Amy Pera for ninth in program history with 12 career home runs.
Swinging A Hot Bat
Freshman Brianne Joseph has been swinging a hot bat for the Braves after getting off to a slow start to the year. Joseph, who hit .529 (9-for-17) in five games last week, boasts a .425 batting average (17-for-40) over her last 12 games. She opened the year with 15 hits in her first 82 career at bats, but has raised her season batting average nearly 80 points with her recent hot hitting and ranks fourth on the team with a .262 average. Joseph is hitting .339 in Missouri Valley Conference play.
Enjoying Conference Play
Freshman Madeline Lynch-Crumrine has made the most of her opportunities in Missouri Valley Conference play, emerging as Bradley's top pitcher. Lynch-Crumrine is 3-3 with a team-best 2.53 ERA in 12 appearances in Valley play to go along with a 4.86-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (34 strikeouts and seven walks).
Taking Extra Bases
Bradley ranks third in the Missouri Valley Conference in stolen bases with 56 stolen bases this season. BU's 56 steals are the most by the Braves in a season since swiping a then Missouri Valley Conference season record 99 in 2000. In addition, the 56 stolen bases rank as the sixth most in school history. Senior Brittany Fairbairn has a team-best 13 stolen bases on the year and needs just one more steal for the highest total by a Brave since 2004.
Moving To The Cleanup Spot
After hitting near the top of the order most of her Bradley career, senior Brittany Fairbairn moved to the cleanup spot for the last seven games. The move in the lineup did not impact Fairbairn, who his hitting .400 (10-for-25) with two doubles, two triples, four runs scored and six RBI in her seven games at the #4 spot in the lineup. Fairbairn's 54 hits are the most by a Bradley player since Laura Harms finished the 2004 season with 73 hits.
Double Trouble
Senior Brittany Fairbairn leads Bradley with 54 hits and junior Julie Sherman has collected a career-high 52 hits through 50 games as the duo are the first BU pair to record 50 hits in the same season since three individuals finished the 2004 season with 50 or more hits. Sherman leads the team with a .340 batting average, while Fairbairn is second on the squad with a .338 average. Bradley has not had two players hit .300 or better in the same season since three individuals finished the 2004 campaign hitting better than .300. Laura Harms and Stefanie Cheney both hit .354 during the 2004 season, while Brittany Mynsberge finished the season with a .303 average.
Turn Two
Bradley leads the Missouri Valley Conference with 17 doubles plays on the year. BU's 17 double plays are the most for the squad since finishing the 2005 season with a school record 21 double plays. The Braves have 10 double plays in Missouri Valley Conference play (22 games).
Driving Them In
Scoring is up for the Braves in 2011 as the team is averaging 3.50 runs per contest compared to 2.94 runs per game in 2010. In fact the 3.50 runs per game average is the highest for a Bradley team since averaging 3.63 runs per tilt in 2006. BU has 146 RBI on the year and needs just one run batted in to finish with the team's highest season total since ending the 2004 season with 187 RBI.
Tough Slate
Bradley has played a total of 11 games against teams ranked in the top 50 in the NCAA's RPI report as of April 24 and over half of the Braves' games this season have been against squads ranked in the top 100. Twenty-six of BU's 50 games (52 percent) of BU's games have been against top 100 teams. Bradley has played an additional seven games against squads ranked in the top 150, meaning 66 percent (33 of 50 games) have been against teams in the top 150.
Legging Them Out
Senior Brittany Fairbairn legged out her Missouri Valley Conference leading sixth triple of the season against Evansville last weekend and leads the team with 16 extra-base hits. Fairbairn's six triples are the most by a Bradley player since Kim Suffield had eight three-baggers in 2000 and is tied for the fourth best season total in program history. Fairbairn is tied for eighth in school history with nine career triples.
Pitching Coming Around
Bradley's pitchers got off to a rough start to the season, posting a 6.09 ERA in the first 17 games of the season. BU's pitching staff has made a big improvement, combining for a 3.64 ERA in the last 33 games. During the opening stretch the Braves were surrendering 9.65 hits and 2.76 walks per game, but have lowered those numbers to 7.85 hits and 2.36 walks per contest over the last 33 outings. In league play, Bradley owns a 3.59 team ERA and opponents are drawing just 1.95 walks per outing.
Outfield Assists
In addition to being one of the team's top offensive threats, senior Brittany Fairbairn has been one of Bradley's top defensive players and already has 13 outfield assists on the year. Fairbairn has recorded 13 of Bradley's 18 outfield assists this season. In 50 games this season she already has 47 more putouts and nine more assists than she had in 41 starts in the outfield in 2010.
Finishing What You Started
Junior pitcher Lindsay Hufeld tossed her team-leading 12th complete game of the season against Southern Illinois and Bradley has 24 complete game efforts this season. The Braves 24 complete games this season are the most since the 2009 team had 34 complete game efforts. Hufeld is BU's leader in innings pitched (111.0) and needs two and two-third innings to post the most innings pitched since Ashley Birdsong tossed a school season record 232 innings in 2009. Freshman Madeline Lynch-Crumrine is second on the team with 102.2 innings pitched and sophomore Mackenzie Camp is third with 98 innings. If Camp pitches two more innings this season Bradley would have three pitchers with 100 innings or more for the first time in program history.
Head Coach
A former assistant coach at Bradley (1997), Amy Hayes returned to The Hilltop in July 2008 to take over the head coaching reigns of the Braves after a three-year run as head coach at Portland State. Now in her third season, Hayes has led the Braves to a 53-100 record (.346) mark in her time as head coach. In addition, to posting their best conference finish since the 1995 squad finished fifth in the MVC with a 10-10 league record, she led the Braves to their first MVC Tournament title and first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history in 2009. In her 10th year as a collegiate head coach, Hayes was head coach at Portland State for three years where she led the Vikings to a 92-81 (.532) record and the school's first-ever conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. She was head coach at Boston University from 2001-04 and guided the Terriers to a 121-95 (.560) mark, three America East Conference regular-season titles, two conference tournament titles and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. Hayes has a career record of 266-276 (.491) career coaching record and has taken teams to the NCAA Tournament four times.
Staying In State
After playing 25 games in five different states, Bradley opened Missouri Valley Conference play with a doubleheader at Illinois State March 19 to kick off a stretch in which the Braves played 17 of 20 games in the state of Illinois. BU played a three-game series in Omaha, Neb., April 2 & 3 for the only games outside the Land of Lincoln between a March 15 game at Fresno State and last Wednesday's doubleheader at Northern Iowa. Overall, the Braves are slated to play 20 of the final 28 games of the 2011 regular season in the state of Illinois.
Game On
Bradley is tied for fourth in the MVC in games played (50) and the Braves have had just three games cancelled this season (one game against Drake and one of the Indiana State series along with the final game of the two games against in-state foe Western Illinois). BU's 28 regular-season non-conference games are the most since playing 32 non-Valley games in 2004. With three games left on the regular-season schedule, the Braves have reached the 50-game mark during the regular season for the first time since 2005 and need to play just two games to have the most contests in a season since playing 58 games during the 2004 regular season.
Increased Output
Junior Julie Sherman might be one of the biggest surprises in the Missouri Valley Conference this season, ranking among the league leaders with a .340 batting average on the year. Sherman, who is now hitting left handed, entered the year with a career .176 batting average; has more than matched her career hit total entering the season and also has a career-best 24 runs scored. She is hitting .397 with runners on base (27-for-68) and boasts a .359 batting average with runners in scoring position.
Braves Claim Tournament Title
Bradley was one of three teams to go 3-1 at the Troy Classic in Troy, Ala., and the Braves were declared champs of the tournament due to the run differential tie-breaker. BU opened play with a 10-2 win against Samford for the first win of the season, before falling in extra innings to Troy by the score of 8-7. Bradley rallied for a 4-1 victory against Central Arkansas later that day and capped things off with a 5-3 win against North Florida. Junior Julie Sherman hit .545 in three games, scoring three runs and driving in one to earn all-tournament honors. Senior Kate Singler joined Sherman on the all-tournament team, scoring four runs and driving in another four while hitting .417 in all four games.
Looking For Rare Feat
Senior Kate Singler drove in a team-best 25 runs in 2010 as a junior and has a team-leading 27 RBI through 50 games this spring. Singler is looking to become just the fifth player in program history to lead the team in RBI in back-to-back years and would be the first player to drive in the most runs in consecutive seasons since Joanna Petit in 2005 & 2006. Singler has six more RBI than any other player on the roster and is Bradley's active career leader with 52 career runs batted in.
Bean Ball
Senior Kate Singler is nearing a dubious distinction after getting hit by a pitch against Western Illinois. Despite playing just under two full seasons on The Hilltop, Singler ranks third in school history after being hit by a pitch 11 times in her career. Only Christine Cooney (16) and Lauren Meister (14) have been hit by more pitches in their BU careers. Both Cooney and Meister were four-year letterwinners.
Braves Picked 10th In Preseason Valley Poll
Bradley was picked to finish 10th in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll, voted on by the league coaches after a 10th-place finish in 2010. The Braves finish three points behind Indiana State for ninth. Illinois State and Southern Illinois finished in a tie for first with Illinois State receiving five of the 10 first-place votes and SIU garnering four first-place nods.
On The Internet
Fans can follow live stats of all Bradley home games, and select road contests on the official Bradley Athletics website (www.BradleyBraves.com). In addition all home contests will feature a free live audio steam also available at www.BradleyBraves.com and home games will also include a subscription based video stream.
Moving Them Over
Junior Jackie Roth collected her team-leading seventh sacrifice hit of the season against Indiana State to push her career sacrifice hit total to 25. Her 25 sacrifice hits are the sixth best career total in school history. She needs two more to move into a tie with Brenda Nelson for fifth place in school history and is five short of becoming the fourth player in program history with 30 sacrifice bunts.
