PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley softball looks to continue its hot hitting down in Florida with the Braves venturing to Tallahassee, Fla., for the Unconquered Invitational Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The Braves have won two of their last three, handing Kennesaw State its only loss of the season Saturday night (6-1) and edging Bowling Green 9-8 Sunday morning before dropping a 9-5 decision to Rutgers Sunday afternoon to wrap up play at the Phyllis Rafter Memorial in Kennesaw, Ga.
The trip to Florida marks Bradley's 22nd season with a trip to the Sunshine State with the Braves playing more games in state of Florida (152) than any other state other than Illinois. Bradley is 72-79-1 (.474) all-time in the state of Florida, which includes a 12-14 record under eighth-year head coach Amy Hayes.
The Braves open tournament play Friday morning with an 11 a.m. (CST) game against first-time opponent UAB and will face tournament-host and 13th-ranked Florida State later that day at 6:30 p.m. (CST). Saturday's action begins at 11 a.m. (CST) with Bradley taking on first-time foe Hofstra. The tournament semifinals will be held Saturday afternoon at 4 and 6:30 p.m. (CST) and the weekend wraps up Sunday with the third-place game at 9 a.m. (CST) and championship at 11:30 a.m. (CST).
Florida State and Bradley will be meeting for the 10th time, but the teams will square off for the first time since a 4-0 Seminole win in Tallahassee, Fla., on March 15, 1997. Eight of the previous nine games in the series have been played at FSU. Florida State is ranked 13th in the latest national poll and will be Bradley's first game in 2016 against a ranked squad. The Braves have played at least one nationally ranked team in 11 consecutive years and will be looking for their first win against a team in the top 25 since a 2-1 win against 13th-ranked Arizona on Feb. 8, 2013 in Tempe, Ariz.
Bradley is hitting .310 as a team and the Braves are second in the Missouri Valley Conference in home runs with nine through 10 games. Senior Rachel Huggins (Mt. Zion, Ill./Mt. Zion) entered the year with two career homers, but has already slugged a team-high three dingers. Bradley hit just 27 home runs in 2015 and didn't collect its first homer until the 13th game of last season. In fact, the Braves played 26 games before tallying the ninth home run of 2015. Six Bradley players have hit a home run in 2016, one short of last year's total of seven individuals with a homer.
Junior Kelly Kapp (Freeburg, Ill./Gibault Catholic) was named MVC Player of the Week after hitting .684 (13-for-19) with eight runs and five stolen bases at the Phyllis Rafter Memorial. Kapp is hitting .611 on the young season and has reached base to open an inning 63 percent of the time. She leads the MVC with 22 hits and 10 stolen bases, while also ranking among the league leaders with 12 runs scored.
Senior Kendall Duffy (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) is hitting second in the lineup behind Kapp and leads the team with seven extra-base hits. Duffy has a .421 average and has collected 11 of her 16 hits this season with runners on base. Her seven extra-base hits (five doubles and one home run) is one short of matching her career high of eight extra-base hits from last year. Duffy, who is almost halfway to her career high of 40 hits in a season, has driven in a team-high 10 RBI this spring.
After the weekend in Florida, Bradley will travel to the Pacific Northwest for the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., March 4-6, where the Braves will play games against Seattle, Boise State and Montana in addition to two games against Kent State.
