PEORIA, Ill. -- The 2013 Missouri Valley Conference softball race enters the final two weeks of the regular-season with teams fighting for positioning in the upcoming MVC Tournament, which will be held May 9-11.
Bradley (22-21 overall, 7-9 MVC) moved into a tie with Wichita State for seventh in the league standings with Sunday's 3-2 victory against second-place Drake and the Braves will have a chance to move up in the standings with seven of 10 games remaining against squads ahead of them in the standings. Only three games separate third through ninth place heading into the final two weekends of the 2013 schedule.
The Braves kick off a busy stretch to close the season with a 2 p.m. doubleheader at Northern Iowa (19-21 overall, 9-6 MVC) Tuesday in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The games against the Panthers, who are two-and-a-half games ahead of BU in the standings in a tie for third, kick off a five-game road swing for Bradley and start a stretch in which the Braves will play 10 games in a 13-day span to conclude the regular season.
Following the mid-week games at UNI, Bradley will travel to Carbondale, Ill., for a three-game weekend series at Southern Illinois Saturday and Sunday. The Salukis (22-21 overall, 8-10 MVC) are one win ahead of the Braves in the standings and are sixth in The Valley heading into a Tuesday afternoon home game against Evansville. Bradley took two of three games from SIU last year in Peoria, but is looking for its first road win in the series since March 2, 2008.
BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for all five road games on the schedule this week.
The Braves have shown patience at the plate this season, drawing 114 base on balls (2.65 per game). The 114 walks are the sixth most base on balls in a season in school history and the 2.65 walks per contest is the team's highest average since collecting a school season record 2.66 base on balls per game in 2009.
Bradley's .362 on base percentage is third in the MVC this year and would rank as the team's best on base percentage since finishing the 1994 campaign with a program-best .365 on base percentage. The 1994 and 1995 (.332) teams are the only squads in school history to finish a season with an on base percentage better than .330.
Junior Madeline Lynch-Crumrine (Sedro-Woolley, Wash./Sedro-Woolley) has appeared in the circle in each of the last 10 games and has thrown 51 of Bradley's 64 innings during that stretch. In the month of April, she has a 3-4 record despite boasting an impressive 2.53 ERA. In her career, Lynch-Crumrine owns a 2.63 ERA over 184 innings in April, compared to a 3.13 career ERA outside the month of April. She enters the week with 179 innings pitched and 112 strikeouts, needing 6.1 innings and one strikeout to break into the top 10 at Bradley in both season categories.
Freshman Kathryn Spenn (Williamsville, Ill./Williamsville) appeared in 16 of the first 30 games of the season as a pinch hitter, before breaking into the starting lineup for the first time against Indiana State on March 30. Over the last 13 games, Spenn has started 12 contests and owns a .316 (12-for-38) batting average to go with two doubles, three homer, eight runs and 15 RBI during that span.
Spenn has driven in a team-best 14 RBI in Missouri Valley Conference play and has scored or driven in 20 of the team's last 48 runs (41.7 percent). Despite having just 54 at bats this spring, Spenn is tied with junior Bailiegh Basham (Mattoon, Ill./Matton/Lake Land C.C.) for second on the team with 19 RBI this year.
