HONORS & AWARDS
MVC All-Tournament Team: 2019
Bradley COUNTRY Financial Scholar-Athlete of the Week: 04-12-17
NFCA All-American Scholar-Athlete: 2018-19, 2017-18 & 2016-17
MVC Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award: 2019, 2018 & 2017
MVC Honor Roll: 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019
Bradley University Athletic Director's Honor Roll: Spring '19, Fall '18, Spring '18, Fall '17, Spring '17, Fall '16, Fall '15
2019 (SENIOR)
Made a team-high 16 starts and tied for the team lead with 19 appearances in the circle … Earned a career-best eight victories, closing the year with an 8-4 record and 4.22 ERA … Tossed a team-best 84.2 innings, while striking out a team-high 70 batters … Named the MVC All-Tournament team after tossing a complete game shutout against Indiana State in her final appearance to help the Braves reach the MVC Tournament semifinals … The shutout was the first in the MVC Tournament for Bradley since the 2009 championship game vs. Creighton and just the second shutout in the conference tournament for the Braves dating back to 2000 … Closed her career among the top 10 in school history in appearances (8th – 109), starts (6th – 81), innings (10th - 383.2) and strikeouts (10th – 235) … Her 70 strikeouts nearly matched her career high of 72 as a sophomore despite pitching a career-low 84.2 innings … Was 5-3 with a 4.38 ERA in Valley play, holding hitters to a .285 average … All seven of her complete game efforts came against Valley opponents … Picked up her first win of the year against Montana, giving up just one run and striking out six in 3.2 innings of work out of the bullpen … Struck out a season-high eight batters in a complete game win against Valparaiso to improve to 3-1 on the year
2018 (JUNIOR)
Started 19 of the 26 games she pitched in, tossing five complete games … Owned a 5.23 ERA in 88.1 inning of work … Tossed a complete game one-hit shutout in the season-opening victory against Saint Louis … Also had a one-hit complete game shutout against Western Illinois … Struck out a season-high nine batters in the opener against Saint Louis … Picked up the victory in the second game of the doubleheader at Indiana State … Also earned a win against Western Illinois at the Petersen Hotels Invitational, fanning eight batters.
2017 (SOPHOMORE)
Emerged as Bradley’s top starting pitcher as a sophomore, posting a 7-10 record with a 4.06 ERA … Also earned one save … Led the squad in appearances (35), starts (21), complete games (2), innings pitched (119.0) and held opponents to a .264 batting average … Was one out away from a perfect game in the series finale against Wichita State, having to settle for a complete game, one-hit shutout … Posted the first shutout of Wichita State by a MVC opponent since 2014 … Named the Bradley COUNTRY Financial Scholar-Athlete of the Week following her performance against Wichita State, which was nearly the first perfect game by a Bradley hurler since 1994 … Struck out a career-best 12 batters in 6.1 innings at Evansville to tie the most strikeouts by a Bradley pitcher since Ashley Birdsong fanned 14 hitters against Northwestern on March 1, 2008 … Lowered her ERA to 3.98 in MVC action and had a 4-5 record in 17 appearances (13 starts) … Held Valley hitters to a .260 average
2016 (FRESHMAN)
Led the team with 25 starts and was second on the squad in complete games (5), appearances (29), innings pitched (91.2) and strikeouts … Earned two of her four wins in Valley play … Appeared in the season opener out of the bullpen … Made her first career start later that day against Seattle … Tossed 5.1 innings and gave up just one run in a 6-1 victory at Kennesaw State for first career win … Had a season-best 8.2 innings of work in a 5-4 extra-inning loss at Tennessee Tech … Struck out a season-best six in complete game effort against Eastern Illinois in the first home game of her career.
HIGH SCHOOL
Named Daily Herald Player of the Year and conference player of the year after helping the Redhawks to a regional title … Team captain … Honorable mention all-conference performer as a junior … Part of a sectional championship team as a junior … Led team to back-to-back conference titles.
PERSONAL
The daughter of Laura and Ken Kestas, Julie was born in Naperville, Ill. … Has two older brothers: Tony and Michael … Majored in sports communication.
