PEORIA, Ill. -- After claiming the second Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title in program history with three wins in three days last week, the Bradley softball team looks to continue its winning ways in the NCAA Tournament; where the Braves will face #15 seed Missouri Friday at 3 p.m. in the opening round of the Columbia, Mo., Regional.
Bradley will join three former Big Eight Conference rivals at the Columbia Regional, opening the double elimination tournament against current Southeastern Conference member and tournament-host Missouri Friday at 3 p.m. The winner of Friday's opening round game between the Braves and Tigers will play Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against the winner of Friday's 12:30 p.m. game between Big 12 Conference member Kansas and 19th-ranked Nebraska.
Saturday's action will also include a 6 p.m. elimination game between the losers of Friday's opening round games. The winner of Saturday's 6 p.m. contest will face the loser of Saturday's first game for a spot in the Regional finals, which will be played Sunday at noon and 2:30 p.m. (if necessary).
Bradley (27-30 overall) faced opening round opponent Missouri (41-16 overall) earlier this year, falling 1-0 to the Tigers at the Citrus Classic in Orlando, Fla., back on Feb. 28. The Braves played Mizzou in Bradley's only previous NCAA Tournament appearance in 2009, with the Tigers winning 2-1 en route to a College World Series appearance. Missouri owns a 7-2 lead in the all-time series, with seven of the last eight matchups played in Columbia, Mo.
A potential matchup with Big Ten Conference foe Nebraska would be the first meeting between the two teams since the Cornhuskers topped Bradley 3-0 in Tallahassee, Fla., during the 2006 season. Two of the previous three games in the series have been played at a neutral site with Nebraska claiming all three games from the Braves.
Bradley and Kansas (33-21 overall) have met eight times since 2002 and the Braves have won each of the last two contests in the series. The Jayhawks are 5-3 against Bradley, but the Braves are 3-4 in the last seven games which includes wins at UNLV in 2011 (10-7) and at Central Florida in 2009 (2-0).
Links to free video streams and live stats for all games of the Columbia Regional will be available at the Tournament Headquarters page at the link provided.
The Braves will hold an hour-long open practice at University Field Thursday at 3:45 p.m. prior to Friday's opening round games.
Fans are invited to a sendoff for the team Wednesday at 4:45 p.m. on the west side of Renaissance Coliseum (Robertson Court).
