PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley softball will play in Georgia State's Eagle Classic in Statesboro, Ga., Saturday and Sunday after the Tennessee State Tiger Invitational was cancelled due to unplayable field conditions and inclement weather forecast for Nashville, Tenn., this weekend.
Instead of making back-to-back trips to the state of Tennessee, the Braves will head to the state of Georgia for the first time since 2012 for the Eagle Classic. Bradley has made trips to Georgia nine times in the last 27 years, but the Braves will head to The Peach State for just the third time in the last 18 seasons. Bradley owns a 23-15 (.605) all-time record in games played in the state of Georgia.
The Braves (2-8 overall) open tournament play Saturday morning with an 11 a.m. (CST) game against Eastern Kentucky (3-3 overall) in the first meeting between the two programs. Saturday's action also includes a 5 p.m. (CST) contest against tournament-host Georgia Southern, which will mark the first meeting between the teams since 1999. Bradley is 2-0 all-time against Georgia Southern, winning a game at Georgia Tech in 1995 in addition to topping the Eagles in Rock, Hill, S.C., in March of 1999.
Sunday's play is slated to start at 8:30 a.m. (CST) in a rematch with North Carolina. The Tar Heels are 3-0 in the all-time series after topping Bradley earlier this year (Feb. 8) to wrap up the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. The Braves conclude the weekend with a 12:30 p.m. (CST) matchup with Dayton. The Flyers won the last meeting in Cape Girardeau, Mo., in 2004, but Bradley won a pair of game against Dayton in 1994 and holds a 2-1 lead in the all-time series.
BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for all four games and a subscription video stream for Saturday afternoon's game against host Georgia Southern will be available at http://gseagles.com/watch/?Archive=991
Sophomore Kelly Kapp (Freeburg, Ill./Gibault Catholic) has taken over the leadoff spot in the lineup for Bradley after hitting .382 in limited action as a freshman. Kapp, who leads the Missouri Valley Conference with five stolen bases, is hitting .344 on the year and has gotten on base to lead off an inning 53 percent of the time. After a 1-for-6 start to the season, Kapp is hitting .385 over the last eight games.
As a team, Bradley averages a MVC-best 3.8 walks per game and the Braves have drawn 18 of their 38 base on balls in the last two games. The freshmen trio of Erika Hansen (Fillmore, Calif./Moorpark), Taylor Willhalm (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) and Maria Schroeder (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich) are tied for the fourth in the MVC with four walks each. Schroeder has collected all six of her walks in the last three games and her four walks against New Mexico State Saturday was the first four-walk performance by a Brave since Jessie Musgrove against Drake on April 1, 2007.
Hansen had a big game in Bradley's 10-8 victory at New Mexico State Saturday, going 4-for-5 with three doubles. She has scored or driven in 14 of Bradley's 35 runs (40 percent) this spring.
Senior Shannon King (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) is closing in on Bradley's career top 10 in RBI after pushing her career RBI total to 65 last weekend. She needs one RBI to move into a tie with Gwen Seputis (1984-87) and Steph Johnson (1985-89) for 10th in school history at 66 and is two short of moving into a four-way tie for seventh all-time.
After the trip to Georgia, Bradley heads to Knoxville, Tenn., Feb. 27 through March 1 for the Tennessee Classic in Knoxville, Tenn. The Braves will open tournament play Friday, Feb. 27 with a 9 a.m. (CST) game against Murray State.
