ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Bradley Softball had its most all-conference honorees since 1994 with four individuals earning Second-Team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors and senior Kendall Duffy (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) was named to the MVC All-Defensive Team according to an announcement by the league office Wednesday night.
Senior designated player Rachel Huggins (Mt. Zion, Ill./Mt. Zion) joined sophomore outfielder Erika Hansen (Fillmore, Calif./Moorpark), sophomore second baseman Elizabeth Leonard (Olathe, Kan./Olathe East) and sophomore catcher Maria Schroeder (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich) as All-MVC Second Team selections.
Hansen was a First-Team All-Valley performer in 2015, while Schroeder is a repeat second-team pick and the duo are the third and fourth players in program history to garner All-MVC honors as both a freshman and sophomore, joining Bradley Hall of Fame member Beth Hawkins (1984-87) and Madeline Lynch-Crumrine (2011-14).
After seeing the bulk of her action as a pinch hitter in her first three seasons, Huggins has started 46 of 47 games at designated player and has slugged a Bradley season record 12 home runs in 2016. She is tied for the team lead with 38 RBI and her .597 slugging percentage would rank third among Bradley season marks.
In MVC play, Huggins hit .300 with eight home runs and tied the Bradley season record for RBI in conference games with 24. A .375 hitter on the year with two outs, 28 of her 38 RBI have come with two outs and she hit a walk-off, three-run home run in the first game of a doubleheader at Illinois State on April 26 to help the Braves claim the regular season series from the Redbirds for the first time since 1987.
Hansen missed 11 games early in the year due to a wrist injury, but returned to finish the regular season third on the team with a .339 average. She tallied a team-best 30 hits in MVC play to rank second in the league and reached base 67 percent of the time she led off an inning.
Over the last 14 contests, Hansen has six multi-hit outings and owns a team-best .404 average (19-for-47) with five doubles, seven runs and .451 on base percentage. The two-year starter in center field is already tied for ninth in school history with 28 career doubles and her 56 career RBI rank as the third-best total by a Brave prior to their junior season.
Leonard got off to a slow start, but took over the starting spot at second base nearing the midway point of the regular-season and played a big part in Bradley's second-half surge. After playing in the outfield for the bulk of the first 19 games of the season, she moved to second and hit .315 with 16 runs and 17 RBI in the last 28 games.
A .305 hitter in MVC contests, Leonard was third on the squad with 16 RBI in league games. She hit .357 with runners on base against conference pitching and owned a team-best .483 average with runners in scoring position in Valley games. Leonard is tied for second on the team with 11 two-out RBI.
Schroeder moved to catcher full time when Leonard took over the starting spot at second base and emerged as one of the most dangerous bats in the Bradley lineup during that stretch. During the last 28 games, she boasts a team-best .375 average with 22 runs and 15 RBI to go with a .526 on base percentage.
In conference games, Schroeder led the Braves with a .373 average and 20 runs, while ranking third in the MVC with a .527 on base percentage. For the season, she has a .344 average with 30 runs and 25 RBI in addition to tying the Bradley season record with 12 hit by pitch. Schroeder's .479 season on base percentage would rank fourth among Bradley marks and her 59 career RBI are the most by a Brave prior to their junior season.
Bradley's honoree on the 2016 MVC All-Defensive team, Duffy has held down the hot corner for most of her career and has started 103 consecutive games at third. She ranks fourth in the MVC in assists (103) and is fourth on the team with 57 putouts.
At the plate, Duffy hit .299 on the year and was among the league leaders with a team-best 13 doubles. Duffy is the most experienced player on the Bradley roster with her 212 games played ranking second in school history. In addition, she is tied for seventh with 29 career doubles and her 85 career RBI rank eighth all-time on The Hilltop, while she is fifth in school history with 376 career assists.
Bradley is the #5 seed for this week's MVC Tournament and will face #8 seed Missouri State in the opening game of the three-day event Thursday at 11 a.m. in Carbondale, Ill. The winner will face #4 seed and tournament-host Southern Illinois Thursday at 4 p.m. in the second round.
