PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley softball team had a rare weekend off after inclement weather forced the postponement of the Missouri Valley Conference opening series at Illinois State and the Braves will almost have a full week between games before playing Tuesday against Illinois-Chicago.
Weather has also impacted Bradley's Spring Break schedule. The Braves and Flames were slated to play single games Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon at UIC, but the teams will move indoors and play just one game Tuesday at 3 p.m. at The Dome at the Ballpark in Rosemont, Ill.
Bradley (14-11 overall) and Illinois-Chicago (6-16 overall) have split the all-time series 17-17, with the Flames posting a 6-3 victory at Laura Bradley Park in 2011 in the last meeting. The Braves swept a doubleheader from UIC the last time Bradley traveled to Chicago to face the Flames in 2007.
A link to live stats will be available at BradleyBraves.com and an audio stream via the UIC Athletics site is available at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/uic.portal#
The mid-week game against UIC closes a 26-game season-opening stretch of road or neutral site contests. Starting with the upcoming weekend series against Wichita State Saturday and Sunday, Bradley will play 14 of the final 25 games of the 2013 season at Laura Bradley Park.
The Braves boast 14 victories before the start of Missouri Valley Conference play for the first time since 1997 and could have 15 or more wins before the first league game for the first time since owning a 16-6-1 record before starting MVC play in 1995.
Bradley is one road win away from matching the team's road win total from the 2012 campaign and needs two road wins to match the squad's highest road win total since 2008 (6). BU's 11 losses on the year have come against nine squads which have combined for a 158-76 (.675) record through games of March 17.
Junior Bailiegh Basham (Mattoon, Ill./Mattoon/Lake Land C.C.) leads the Missouri Valley Conference with a .448 batting average and also boasts a league-best .553 on base percentage. Over the last 12 games, Basham is hitting .548 and boasts an impressive .643 on base percentage.
Senior pitcher Mackenzie Camp (Mapleton, Ill./Limestone) has picked up six wins in her last eight decisions and is closing in on Bradley's top 10 in career strikeouts. The only senior on the roster, she recently surpassed 300 career innings and needs three strikeouts to reach 200 in her career. Camp is 13 strikeouts from passing Kim Rosenbohm (1983-86) for 10th in school history in strikeouts.
