Softball Hosts Valparaiso To Open MVC Schedule

Softball 3/15/2019 12:07:00 PM

SCHEDULE ALERT (Friday, March 15 - 12:09 p.m.) - The start of Saturday's Valparaiso-at-Bradley doubleheader will be delayed one hour to 1 p.m. CT, due to the cold morning temperatures in the forecast.

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Softball brings a season-best four-game win streak into its home opener, with the Braves hosting Valparaiso in a weekend series at Petersen Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex to start Missouri Valley Conference play.

The weekend series gets underway with a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and wraps up Sunday with a single game slated for 11 a.m. All three games of the series will be available on ESPN+ and BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats.

The all-time series between the Bradley (11-10 overall) and Valparaiso (8-8 overall) is tied at 4-4 after Valpo swept the regular-season series last year in Valparaiso, Ind. Last year's series marked the first games between the two schools since 2004. Valparaiso will be playing in Peoria for the first time with the first five meetings between the teams all played at neutral sites.

Bradley owns a 22-18 record in homer openers after topping Saint Louis 8-0 in six innings to kick off the 2018 campaign. The Braves are 7-8 when starting the home schedule with a Missouri Valley Conference game.

Bradley kicks off Missouri Valley Conference play at home for the second consecutive year after hosting Northern Iowa to open the 2018 league slate. The Braves have won at least one game during the opening weekend of the Valley schedule six of the last seven years and posted a .500 record or better the first weekend of league action is four of the last six campaigns, posting a 7-9 record during that span after splitting a shortened series vs. UNI last year.

Bradley's four-game win streak is the team's longest since a five-game win streak in late February 2017, which was part of an 8-2 stretch for the Braves, and BU is 6-1 in the last seven. Over that seven game stretch Bradley has picked up four run-rule victories and the Braves are hitting .359 as a team, while averaging 8.4 runs per outing and boasting a .464 on base percentage.

The pitching staff has been solid during that stretch as well, combining for a 3.00 ERA and holding opponents to a .260 average. Freshman Lucy Mead is hitting .476 (10-for-21) with nine runs, two doubles, one homer and eight RBI over the last seven. Fellow freshman Grace French is 6-for-17 (.353) with two runs scored to go with a 2-1 record and team-best 0.78 ERA over that span.

Junior power hitters Allison Apke and Kealia Wysocki both recently returned from injuries which sidelined them for five games with last Sunday's doubleheader at Tennessee Tech marking the first time the two were in the lineup at the same time since the Feb. 25 game against Virginia.

Apke has had a hit in each of her three games since returning for the March 3 game vs. Savannah State and hit a home run in each of last week's games at Tennessee Tech. She is 3-for-8 with two walks, four runs and three RBI since her return and tied the Bradley career home run record of 21 originally set by Alyson Clemente (2012-16).

Wysocki missed all five games of the Citrus Classic in Orlando, Fla., March 1-3. In her first action since Feb. 25, Wysocki had a pinch-hit single in the opener against Tennessee Tech and went 3-for-4 with a double, one run and two RBI in the nightcap to cap a 4-for-5 day at the plate.

Senior Megan Mahaffy has picked up the win in each of her last two appearances (both out of the bullpen) and is 3-2 on the young season. Mahaffy has not surrendered a run in her last three appearances and has held teams scoreless over her last 10.0 innings of work. During that stretch, she has held teams to .143 (5-for-35) hitting with five singles and just two walks.

The Braves follow up the weekend home series with a midweek non-conference game as Bradley travels to Columbia, Mo., for a Wednesday (March 20) afternoon contest at Missouri (3 p.m.).

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