The Bradley women’s softball team has traveled to the West Coast for some warmer weather.. The women will open their season in the Kajikawa Classic, which starts today in Tempe, Arizona. They will face Nevada, Seattle, Boise State, Utah State and Northwestern in the tournament.
“It’s a great tournament for us to open up in,” head coach Amy Hayes said. “One, weather-wise, we’re not going to have any issues because we’re not going to get rain or snow. We have a really good mix of a schedule there, and I think it’s a good springboard for us.”
The biggest challenge of the tournament will be in-state opponent Northwestern who finished fourth in the Big Ten and fell to top-seeded Michigan in the semi-finals of the conference tournament last spring.
“We’re playing some pretty decent teams,” sophomore centerfielder Erika Hansen said. “I think our expectation is to just go out there and compete and come out with some wins, obviously.”
This tournament will be the first installment of what Hayes calls a “pretty tough preseason,” where the women will face teams like Florida State and Wisconsin. She said it’s especially critical this year to play such fierce competition early on.
“It’s important to set the tone early for what we’re trying to do here at Bradley,” Hayes said. “I think there will be games that will be extremely competitive for us. We want our kids to be prepared by the time we get to conference.”
The young Braves will need strong performances from their freshmen and sophomores, according to Hayes. The team will feature a totally new middle infield this season with sophomores Maria Schroeder and Taylor Morales playing second base and shortstop, respectively.
Another sophomore who isn’t new to the starting lineup is outfielder Erika Hansen, will need to be a key contributor to the squad this year. She was voted a preseason All-MVC player and will look to live up to the hype once play begins.
“I hope to just keep getting better and better each practice and each game,” Hansen said. “The preseason selection doesn’t mean a whole lot to me, I guess, because you always have improvements to work on. So, I think the key is just to keep working hard and everything will fall into place.”
Hayes said she expects Hansen to just “keep on trucking” this year.
“[Hansen is] a phenomenal athlete,” Hayes said. “She’s a great hitter. She’s kind of a soft-spoken person. She just kind of does her job. That’s what we need from Erika, we just need her to be a really consistent anchor in the middle of our lineup and centerfield.”
Looking forward, the women once again have championship goals in mind for the season.
“[Our goal] is to win conference,” Hayes said. “It’s our mindset every year. We feel like even though we are young a little bit, we feel like we have a strong pitching staff and most of our hitters are back.”
The women begin play in Arizona against Nevada at 10:30 a.m. and will play Seattle 8 p.m. tonight.
