Peoria Standard

Bradley Softball makes the trek to Springfield, Mo., for the second time in a two-week stretch with the Braves opening action at the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Thursday morning with an 11 a.m. second-round contest at Missouri State's Killian Stadium.

 

The #5 seed for the MVC Tournament, Bradley (25-25 overall, 13-14 MVC) will square off with the winner of Wednesday's 11 a.m. opening-round game between #8 seed Loyola (16-29 overall, 10-17 MVC) and #9 seed Evansville (24-26 overall, 9-18 MVC) Thursday morning.  The winner of the second-round game will move on to face #4 seed Drake (20-28 overall, 14-12 MVC) later that afternoon in a 4 p.m. third-round matchup.

 

All nine games of the 2022 MVC Championship will be available on ESPN+ and BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for each contest.

 

In search of its first MVC Tournament title since 2014 and third overall (2009), Bradley owns a 34-42 record in MVC Tournament play all-time after going 1-1 in the event last year.  Overall, the Braves are making their 28th MVC Tournament appearance.  Bradley is 3-7 all-time in Valley Tournament games played in Springfield, Mo.  The Braves only wins in MVC Tournaments hosted by Missouri State came in 1984 when Bradley went 3-2 and finished third.

 

Bradley closed out the regular-season schedule with a 2-1 victory against regular-season champion Northern Iowa as the Braves finished the regular season with a 25-25 overall record and took fifth in the league standings at 13-14.  The fifth-place finish marked the second time in the last three seasons of MVC play (excludes 2000 season), Bradley finished in the top half of the Valley standings and it's the fourth time since 1995 the Braves finished in the top five in the standings, with all four of those coming since 2014.  The only seasons since 1995 Bradley won more than 25 games in the regular season were in 2019 (28) and 2004 (29).

 

BU's 13 league wins are the fourth-most in program history behind three 15-win conference seasons in 2019 (15-10), 2015 (15-12) and 2014 (15-12).  The Braves have at least 12 league wins for the sixth time in the last eight years a Valley schedule was played with only Southern Illinois (eight) and Northern Iowa (seven) having more seasons with 12 or more league wins over that stretch.

 

Sunday's 2-1 victory against Northern Iowa was Bradley's ninth one-run victory of the year.  In fact, six of BU's seven home victories came by one run with the Braves plating the winning run in the sixth inning or later in each of those one-run wins.  Bradley was 7-2 in one-run games against MVC opponents and the Braves are 11-4 in one-run league contests over the past two seasons.  The seven one-run victories in conference action are the most for the Braves since a program record eight one-run wins in Gateway Conference play in 1986 (8-4).  Overall, Bradley scored the winning run in the sixth inning or later in 10 of its 25 victories in 2022 and a total of 15 games (five losses) had the winning run scored in the sixth or later.

 

Bradley had a 5-4 combined record against the top three in the MVC standings, thanks in part to a regular-season series sweep of #3 Southern Illinois, and the Braves are the only Valley team to collect at least one win against each of the top three seeds.  Despite BU's success against the top three finishers in the league, Bradley was a combined 3-9 against teams joining the Braves on their half of the bracket compared to a combined 10-5 mark against the other half of the bracket.  The last time the #5 seed reached the championship was the last time the event was held in Springfield, Mo., (2011), when the host Bears claimed the title.

 

Despite playing just 23 non-conference games during the shortened 2020 campaign and just a 42-game slate during the 2021 season, Bradley's senior class has combined for 88 overall wins and a 40-39 overall league mark over the last four years.  The 40-39 Valley mark over the last four seasons is the first time the Braves had a winning conference record over a four-year stretch dating back to 1988 when Bradley closed out a four-year span with a 41-30-1 mark (.576).  The 88 overall wins match the most wins in a four-year span (2016-19 and 2014-17) going back to a stretch from 2013-16 when Bradley amassed 90 victories.

 

Bradley owns a league-best 11 neutral-site victories (11-6) entering the MVC Tournament and BU's 18 wins away from home (seven road wins) are tied with Northern Iowa for the most in the Valley in 2022.  In fact, Bradley was 6-7 in league road games and won six MVC road contests for the first time since 2019.  The Braves had six road conference wins for just the sixth time in program history (2022, 2019, 2014, 2002, 1994 & 1986).  Overall, Bradley is 26-14 in neutral site games since 2020 and 60 of the team's last 88 victories (since 2019) have been at road or neutral sites.

 

Senior Camryn Monteer rides a career-best 10-game hit streak into this week's Missouri Valley Conference Tournament after going 4-for-8 in the weekend series against Northern Iowa, and has reached base safely in 20 consecutive games.  Monteer, who is hitting .419 (13-for-51) during her 10-game hit streak, has had hits in 16 of the last 17 contests with eight multi-hit efforts during that stretch.  Over that 17-game span, Monteer is 24-for-55 (.436) with 10 runs scored and six walks while owning a .492 on base percentage.  Her streak of 20 consecutive games reaching base is the longest by a Brave since Allison Apke (21 in 2019) and the last Bradley player with a streak greater than 21 straight games was Kelly Kapp (29) in 2017.