PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley softball wraps up a five-game road swing with a midweek doubleheader at I-74 rival Illinois State Wednesday, facing the Redbirds in a 3 p.m. twin bill in Normal, Ill.
After taking two of three games at Northern Iowa over the weekend, Bradley (14-26 overall, 8-7 MVC) enters Wednesday's doubleheader one game behind Illinois State (18-24 overall, 9-6 MVC) for third in the Missouri Valley Conference standings. The teams will meet again next week, wrapping up the regular-season series Wednesday, April 22 with a single game at Laura Bradley Park (3 p.m.).
BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for both games Wednesday and a subscription video steam is available for purchase through Illinois State (http://www.goredbirds.com/watch/?Archive=543).
The Braves have had a bit of power surge since starting Missouri Valley Conference play, hitting .312 as a team with 22 doubles, one triple and 14 homers to go with a .464 slugging percentage in 15 league games. In 25 non-conference games, Bradley owned a .276 average with 26 doubles, three triples and seven home runs along with a .355 slugging percentage.
Helping lead the offensive surge in Valley action has been senior Shannon King (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty). She enters Wednesday's game at Illinois State with a career-best 10-game hit streak to give the Braves two players in the same season with hit streaks of 10 games or more for the first time since 2011. King has driven in multiple runs in six of the last nine games and is tied for the league lead with 18 RBI in Valley action. She needs three RBI to break her career high in a season of 31 set last year and is four RBI from moving into fifth in school history. King owns a .358 average in Valley play with three doubles, one triple and four home runs.
Sophomore Kelly Kapp (Freeburg, Ill./Gibault Catholic) swiped her conference-leading 17th base Saturday at Northern Iowa and pushed her team-best hit total to 53. Kapp's 17 stolen bases rank as the ninth best season total in school history and she needs one hit and one steal to become just the fifth player in program history to collect 54 hits and 18 steals in a season.
Fellow sophomore Jaelen Hull (Clifton, Ill./Bishop McNamara) earned a victory and save in the weekend series at Northern Iowa. Since the start of Missouri Valley Conference play, Hull is 3-0 with a save and 1.69 ERA over 29.0 innings of work (seven appearances). She is 2-0 against Missouri Valley Conference opponents this year with a save and 2.33 ERA.
Senior Alyson Spinas-Valainis (Davenport, Iowa/Assumption) owns a 4-6 record in the circle with a save and 2.64 ERA in conference games, while limiting teams to a .246 batting average. Over her last 10 appearances, which includes eight starts, Spinas-Valainis is 4-4 with a save and 2.20 ERA over 51 innings.
Following the midweek doubleheader at Illinois State, Bradley will open an eight-game home stand with a noon doubleheader Saturday against pre-season league favorite Wichita State at Laura Bradley Park.
