ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Senior outfielder Gabby Stoner (Rockford, Ill./Boylan Catholic) has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week for the first time in her career according to an announcement by the league office Monday afternoon.
 
Against one of the top pitching staffs in the MVC, Stoner hit a blistering .600 for the week, scoring of driving in 37 percent of Bradley Softball's 19 runs in the series with Southern Illinois as she collected five runs, two doubles, one homer and three RBI.  She also boasted a .667 on base percentage and 1.100 slugging percentage for the weekend series against the Salukis as she helped the Braves lock up their best conference finish (4^th) since 2014. 
 
After missing six weeks and the first 18 MVC contests of the season with an injury, Stoner started all three games of a league series for the first time in 2019 and responded by collecting hits in each contest.  She helped power Bradley to a 14-5 victory in the series opener, by going 4-for-4 with a double, homer, walk, four runs scored and three RBI as she tallied the first four-hit game of her career. 
 
In Saturday's second game, she was 1-for-3 with a walk and run scored.  Stoner led off the fourth inning with a single for Bradley's second hit of the contest and later scored to help highlight a four-run inning which gave the Braves a 4-2 lead.  Stoner collected Bradley's first hit in the series finale Sunday, ripping a one-out double in the first inning.  The 6-for-10 weekend at the plate raised her conference batting average to .529 on the year and she enters the MVC Tournament with a .443 season batting average in her 25 games.
 
Despite missing almost 50 percent of the season, Stoner is fourth on the team in runs scored to help Bradley average what would be a conference season record for runs per game (6.02 per contest).  She has also drawn 15 walks to rank fourth on the team and owns a .552 on base percentage for the year coupled with a .686 slugging percentage. 
 
Bradley will serve as host for the 2019 MVC Championship, which will be held Wednesday through Saturday at Petersen Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex.  The tournament gets under way Wednesday at 4 p.m. with #8 seed Loyola facing #9 seed Indiana State.  The Braves play Thursday at 4 p.m. against the winner of Thursday's 11 a.m. game between #5 seed Missouri State and the winner of Wednesday's Loyola vs. Indiana State matchup.