PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley softball team will head to Arizona for the fifth consecutive year, opening the 2015 season with five games at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz., Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Picked fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll after claiming the MVC Tournament title and making a NCAA Tournament appearance, the Braves will play fellow NCAA Tournament participant Utah Valley Friday at 10:15 a.m. (CST) in the season opener. Bradley, which will match the earliest season opener in program history, will also play Pacific (12:30 p.m.) on the opening day.
The matchup with Utah Valley is the first between the two teams, while Saturday's contest against Pacific will be the fifth meeting between the squads. The Braves are 3-1 in the series with Pacific, having won each of the last three games against the Tigers.
Saturday's action includes a 12:15 p.m. game against Seattle, which will be the second game in the series. Bradley topped the Redhawks 7-3 in Seattle, Wash., during the 2013 season. The Braves will play a Pac-12 Conference team for the fifth consecutive year, with Saturday's 3 p.m. tilt against Stanford marking the sixth game between the programs in the last four years.
Bradley concludes the Kajikawa Classic Sunday at 10 a.m. against North Carolina in the first meeting between the teams since 1999.
The Braves have opened each of the last four seasons at the Kajikawa Classic and will head west to open a season for the sixth seasons. Bradley is 17-19 all-time in season-opening games after a 6-3 extra-inning loss to Indiana last year in Tempe, Ariz. Despite last year's setback, the Braves are 6-3 win season openers over the last nine years and own an 11-13 mark when playing the first game of a season at a neutral site.
The Feb. 6 season opener is the earliest Bradley has opened a season since 2004 and ties for the earliest season opener in program history.
Links to live stats will be available at BradleyBraves.com
The Braves returned 13 letterwinners from last year's squad, which posted a 27-32 overall record and was fourth in the regular-season MVC race at 15-12. The 15 conference wins were a school record and Bradley's fourth-place finish was the team's best since taking second in 1994. The Braves went on to claim their second MVC Tournament title en route to the team's second NCAA Tournament appearance under seventh-year head coach Amy Hayes.
After the trip to Arizona, Bradley will play in the Troy Cox Classic in Las Cruces, N.M., Feb. 13-15 and will open tournament play against 2014 NCAA Tournament participant Kansas Friday, Feb. 13 at noon.
