It’s been 11 months since Bradley softball played a game at Laura Bradley Park. The team hasn’t faced a team on its home field since dropping two games to Missouri State May 4 and 5 of last year.
On April 4, however, the team finally made it’s home debut, and it did it witha pair of comeback wins against Loyloa on Saturday to sweep a doubleheader before falling Sunday afternoon to close out the series.
Saturday, the team found itself trailing entering the home half of the ninth inning 2-0. Loyola pitcher Brittany Gardner had shut them down, allowing just two hits while striking out eight to that point. But she couldn’t stop the Braves in the seventh.
Infielder Alyson Clemente started the inning off with a double into right field that the Ramblers’ Erica Nagel misplayed.
She broke in toward home plate off the bat, and the ball went over her head. Second baseman Shannon King followed that with a home run over the centerfield fence to tie the game at two.
King collected four hits over the weekend, a good step forward after she totaled just one in the prior series against the Shockers. Coach Amy Hayes said she knew King wouldn’t stay in a slump for long.
“She’s one of our more consistent hitters, especially in the approach she takes in every single at-bat,” Hayes said. “I don’t think she takes many pitches off, and that’s why she was able to bounce back so quickly.”
After the King homer, Marina Groenewegen followed with another line drive to right field that was misplayed, allowing her to reach second base with a double.
Kendall Duffy dropped a single into shallow left field to complete the comeback.
A loss would’ve been tough for the Braves’ and their starter Madeline Lynch-Crumrine, but Duffy said the team had the pitcher’s back.
“We kept telling Maddie that we’re going to score for you, we’re going to get you runs,” Duffy said. “It was a little later than we hoped, but we got it done,”
Crumrine set a career-high in strikeouts for one game with nine while pitching her 14th complete game of the season.
She turned it over to Jaelen Hull for the second game. Hull went six innings, giving up two runs on six hits before being pulled after giving up a single to lead off the seventh. Hayes said she was just trying to keep the freshman fresh.
“It’s a long haul. Our season is a grind,” she said. “We’re playing 56 games in a short amount of time, and she [Hull] has got a lot of innings on that arm. She’s been able to go longer and longer and she’s getting better every outing, so we don’t really pay attention to her stats.”
The team tried for the sweep on Saturday, but a two-run rally fell short and the Braves lost 4-3 in extra innings. Crumrine went the distance again for the Braves, but was stuck with the loss.
Even though they didn’t get the sweep, the team is happy to finally be home. The team played a school-record 34 games before April 1st, all of them on the road. Coach Hayes said she (and the team) are glad to be back.
“I’ll be honest, it feels foreign. When you’re on the road that much, you’re used to being somewhere else,” she said. “It was really unfamiliar for us, but obviously we were all excited to be there.”
Senior Bri Joseph made some history in front of the home fans. Her four hits moved her into tenth place on the team’s career hit list. If Joseph can score five more runs for the Braves, she would move into the top-ten in runs.
The team returns home noon Saturday to start a three game, two day series with the SIU Cougars.
Garth Shanklin is the Scout Sports Editor. He can be reeached via email at gshanklin@mail.bradley.edu. You can also follow him on Twitter @GarthShanklin.
