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Softball kicks off season in Arizona

The Bradley softball team kicked off the 2019 season last weekend, playing five games as part of the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona. The Braves finished with a 1-4 record, picking up its lone victory over Seattle via a walk-off three run error on Friday afternoon.

The team began play on Friday morning by taking on Stanford University. The Braves trailed 4-0 after three and a half innings, but were able to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Katie Habryle got the Braves’ first run on a sacrifice fly, and two Stanford fielding errors allowed the Braves to even up the game.

Bradley was tied heading in to the seventh and final inning, but Stanford put eight runs on the board downing the Braves 12-5.

Despite the loss, senior Gabby Stoner had a solid day at the plate, collecting two hits and an RBI.

“I felt pretty good at the plate. I tried to keep the same mindset with each at bat and tried to set an example for the others to follow,” Stoner said.

They returned to action Friday afternoon facing Seattle University. Bradley trailed 4-2 in the seventh inning, but junior Kealia Wysocki came up big and brought home three runners, winning the game for the Braves.

Next up was Weber State on Saturday afternoon, the Braves scratched across two runs in the first inning thanks to junior Allison Apke’s two-run single. Bradley couldn’t get anything else past the Wildcats, who rallied with 10 unanswered runs to win 10-2.

Bradley returned to the field a few hours later Saturday night to take on the No. 19 Oregon Ducks. Once again, Bradley got off to a hot start. Wysocki was walked in and freshman Lucy Mead’s single drove in another pair of runs to extend the early Bradley lead to three.

Oregon’s offense responded in the bottom half of the inning though, scoring four runs to take the lead. Their bats were too much for the Braves to handle, who fell by a 12-3 final.

The Kajikawa Classic concluded with a Sunday afternoon matchup against their third Pac-12 opponent in three days, the Utah Utes.

It was a pitcher’s duel, as Utah’s Sydney Sanchez and Bradley freshman Grace French allowed a combined three runs. Utah scored all of its runs in the first and fourth innings, and Sanchez continued to shut the door until the seventh when Bradley scratched across a run. It wasn’t enough as they fell 2-1.

Despite the loss, freshman pitcher Grace French pitched a complete game in her first career start and allowed just six hits in the 2-1 setback.

“It felt good to start that way,” French said. “I try to keep my mindset the same each game. You just have to play your own game.”

Head coach Amy Hayes saw an improvement from her team as this weekend progressed.

“I think we were kind of finding ourselves the first few games, and on Sunday we did a good job of coming back to Earth,” Hayes said. “We had good leadership from Gabby Stoner. They need to hear from our seniors and the guidance that we are all moving in the same direction.”

The Braves will play in Las Cruces, New Mexico beginning today as part of the Troy

Cox Classic, which includes games against Montana, Texas State, San Jose State and two against New Mexico State.

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