PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley softball team travels to Omaha, Neb., with first place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings on the line as the Braves face the Bluejays in a three-game series Saturday and Sunday at the Creighton Sports Complex.
Creighton (19-10 overall, 5-1 MVC) is a half-game ahead of second-place Bradley (19-12 overall, 4-1 MVC) in the league standings after both squads swept home series last weekend. The Bluejays completed a three-game sweep of Northern Iowa, while the Braves took all three games from Indiana State for the first three-game sweep of a Valley opponent for BU since the 2009 season.
The series will begin Saturday with a noon doubleheader and conclude Sunday with a single game at noon. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for all three contests.
Ten of Bradley's 19 victories this season have been by two runs or less, with each of the last six games featuring a final margin of two runs or less. The Braves are now 5-0 in one-run contests after Saturday's 3-2, eight-inning win against Indiana State and the Braves boast a 10-3 record in games in which the final margin is two runs or fewer after going 11-13 in those same outings last year.
Bradley's 4-1 start to Missouri Valley Conference play is the squad's best start to league play since 1986 (4-1), second only to the 6-1 start to Gateway Conference action in 1984. Overall, BU's 19 victories are two short of the team's win total from the entire 2012 season and BU needs just three wins for the most regular-season victories since 2007 (25).
The sweep of Indiana State capped an 11-6 March for the Braves, who posted their best record in the month of March since going 11-6 in 2004. Bradley's 19-12 overall record is the best 31-game start to a season since 2007 (19-12) and BU has a chance to win 20 of its first 35 games for the first time since opening the 1995 campaign with a 20-14-1 mark.
The weekend series at Creighton opens a stretch in which 10 of the next 11 games will be on the road. Bradley is 5-4 in true road games, going 4-1 in the last five road contests.
Senior Mackenzie Camp (Mapleton, Ill./Limestone) moved into 10th in career strikeouts at Bradley Saturday with a six strikeout effort against Indiana State and is 1-1 with a 1.05 ERA in three starts against Missouri Valley Conference squads. She matched her career high for wins in a season with her eighth victory of the year Saturday and needs just two wins to give Bradley two pitchers with 10 or more wins in the same season since 1995.
Junior Madeline Lynch-Crumrine has also been strong in the circle lately, owning a 6-1 record in her last seven appearances in addition to throwing complete game shutouts in three of her last five starts. During her current seven-game hot streak, she boasts a 1.72 ERA in 44.2 innings of work with the only loss at then 16th-ranked Washington.
Following the weekend trip to Omaha, Neb., Bradley returns to Laura Bradley Park to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule Tuesday with a 5 p.m. game against SIU Edwardsville.
