Bradley Wraps Up Four-Game Home Stand Today

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Softball wraps up a season-long, four-game home stand Tuesday against I-74 rival Illinois State, hosting the Redbirds in a 4 p.m. game at Petersen Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex.
 
The Braves (19-28 overall, 5-15) look for revenge against league-leading Illinois State (27-17 overall, 17-3 MVC) after the Redbirds rallied to pull out a 6-5 victory in the second game of last Wednesday’s doubleheader in Normal, Ill., to complete a sweep of the twinbill.
 
Tuesday’s game will be available on ESPN3 as part of The Valley On ESPN3 and can be viewed through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.  In addition, BradleyBraves.com will provide a link to live stats for the series finale.  For ticket information visit - http://www.bubraves.com/sports/2017/3/27/bradley-softball-ticket-information.aspx?id=972
 
Bradley will be playing the final midweek game on the regular-season slate Tuesday as the Braves battle for a spot in the upcoming Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, which will be held May 11-13 at Illinois State.  The Braves have played a league-low nine home games and will finish the season with the team’s fewest home contests since playing just 11 home games in 2014.
 
The freshman pairing of Kealia Wysocki and Allison Apke (Teutopolis graduate) have helped make up for the absence of sophomore Katie Habryle in the lineup.  Habryle has missed the last 10 games with an injury.
 
Over the last six games, Wysocki is hitting a team-best .471 (8-for-17) with two doubles and two home runs to go with a .550 on base percentage and .941 slugging percentage.  Apke has been a regular in the lineup since the injury to Habryle and owns a .321 average with five RBI during that span.  Apke had a triple and a home run in Sunday’s series finale against Drake.
 
Senior Kelly Kapp tallied the 67th multiple-hit game of her career Sunday against Drake and her 72 hits in 2017, which rank fifth in the nation, are just four from matching the school season record of 76 she set as a sophomore in 2015.  Kapp has joined Illinois State’s Kara Nelson (2007-11) and Lindsay Wood (1999-02) of Northern Iowa as the only individuals in MVC history to collect 72 or more hits in two different seasons.  Nelson (301) and Wood (269) rank first and second in career hits in league history.
 
Kapp has climbed into 12th in career hits in Valley history and is five from passing UNI’s Mackenie Daigh for 11th all-time in the MVC.
 
Fellow senior Caitlyn McCarron continues to swing a hot bat for the Braves and is now second in the MVC with a .413 batting average.  McCarron smacked her conference-leading fourth triple of the year Saturday for her first extra-base hit in April.  This season, she has helped the Braves to league-best 12 triples for the teams highest total since (2012) and most in the MVC since 2014.
 
McCarron is hitting an impressive .477 with two outs and is 10-for-16 (.625) with 15 RBI when batting with two outs and runners in scoring position.  Overall, she has driven in 17 of Bradley’s 49 two-out RBI this spring.
 
Following the midweek game, Bradley will play the final road series of 2017 with a three-game set at Loyola Saturday and Sunday in Chicago.