Softball Opens Season At GCU Kickoff Classic

Evansville Athletics

Softball 2/10/2022 11:30:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Softball travels to Phoenix, Ariz., to start the 2022 season, taking part in Grand Canyon's Kickoff Classic this weekend as the Braves open the season in the Grand Canyon State for the ninth time in the last 12 years.

The weekend starts with Bradley (20-22 overall in 2021) taking on Big Sky Conference preseason favorite Weber State (25-19 overall in 2021) Friday morning at 9 a.m. (CST) in a contest scheduled to be played at Phoenix College. Friday's action also includes a 4:30 p.m. (CST) outing against Kansas (22-26 overall in 2021) at GCU Softball Stadium in the first meeting with the Jayhawks since 2015.

Bradley will play a pair of games against Northern Colorado (12-27 overall in 2021) Saturday, with the teams playing a 9 a.m. (CST) game at Phoenix College before relocating to Grand Canyon's campus for a 2 p.m. (CST) rematch.

The Braves wrap up the three-day tournament Sunday afternoon, facing tournament-host Grand Canyon at 3 p.m. (CST) in a contest that will be available on ESPN+.

BradleyBraves.com will provide links for Sunday's ESPN+ stream, in addition to links for live stats for all five contests of the GCU Kickoff Classic.

Bradley will be kicking off its 44th season of competition this weekend. The Braves are 20-23 all-time in season openers, which includes a 9-7 record in openers over the last 16 campaigns. Bradley is 2-6 in season openers played in Arizona with the last win coming against Utah Valley in 2015. Overall, the Braves are 13-16 when playing at a neutral site to start a season with the last victory to kick off the year against #20 Arkansas (3-2) in Las Cruces, N.M., in 2020.

The Grand Canyon Kickoff Classic will mark Bradley's ninth trip to the state of Arizona with all nine trips coming since 2011. The Braves have played in the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz., seven times (2011-16 & 2019) with the other trip to the Grand Canyon State for the 2017 GCU Kickoff Classic. Twelve of Bradley's 40 all-time games played in the state of Arizona have come against teams that reached the NCAA Tournament that season.

Bradley posted a 3-2 record in neutral site contests last year and the Braves have had a .500 record or better in neutral site games each of the past five seasons. Over that stretch, Bradley is 41-28 in games played at neutral sites. This season, the Braves have a total of 17 neutral site games on the schedule.

Bradley returns 11 letterwinners, including five starters and three pitchers from last year's squad. In fact, the Braves return their top two hitters from the previous year for the first time since the 2017 campaign with seniors Camryn Monteer (.342) and Lucy Mead (.303) pacing the squad last year.

Senior Grace French helps headline a pitching staff that combined to start 30 contests last spring and accounted for two-thirds of the team's innings in 2021. French is the first Bradley pitcher to win at least eight games the previous season (8-6) since the 2019 season when Megan Mahaffy (8-10) and Emma Jackson (8-8) both earned eight victories in 2018.

The first of two trips to Nashville, Tenn., follows the season-opening GCU Kickoff Classic, with the Braves heading to Music City Feb. 18-20 for the Roar City Invite. Bradley opens tournament play Friday, Feb. 18 with a 4:30 p.m. game against Miami (Ohio).

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Players Mentioned

#32 Grace French: P/UT; 5' 4"; Senior; R/R

#4 Lucy Mead: IF/UT; 5' 8"; Senior; L/R

#23 Camryn Monteer: IF/UT; 5' 5"; Senior; L/R

Players Mentioned

#32 Grace French
: 5' 4"; Senior; R/R
: P/UT

#4 Lucy Mead
: 5' 8"; Senior; L/R
: IF/UT

#23 Camryn Monteer
: 5' 5"; Senior; L/R
: IF/UT

Softball Opens Season At GCU Kickoff Classic

Players Mentioned

#32 Grace French

#4 Lucy Mead

#23 Camryn Monteer

Players Mentioned

#32 Grace French

#4 Lucy Mead

#23 Camryn Monteer