Missouri State Softball - Games 28-30
 

Missouri State (16-11, 4-2 MVC) at Bradley (17-15, 3-3 MVC)
Dates	Saturday, April 1, 12 p.m. (DH) | Sunday, April 2, 11 a.m.
Location	Peoria, Ill.
Site	Petersen Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex (1,000)
Time	Saturday 12 p.m. (DH) | Sunday 11 a.m.
Follow Along	Live Stats | ESPN3 (Saturday) | ESPN3 (Sunday)
Missouri State	Game Notes | Softball Home Page | Twitter | Facebook | Media Guide
Up Next	MSU at Indiana State, April 8-9 (Terre Haute, Ind.)

The Starting Nine
    ?    This weekend marks the first-ever games at Petersen Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria.
    ?    Junior Holly Kelley (Cypress, Texas) is the Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week after she went 2-0 in the circle last week for the Bears with a 0.54 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 13.0 innings. Her efforts helped push the Bears into a tie for third place in the MVC standings with the series sweep of Loyola. Kelley struck out 9 in a complete-game shutout win over Loyola on March 26, the most K's by any MSU pitcher this season, while walking one and allowing just two Rambler hits. She also picked up a win in the March 25 victory over LUC, fanning five in a 6-inning complete game with one ER and one walk. Opponents hit just .156 against Kelley on the week while she boasted a 0.69 WHIP.
    ?    Hailee Vigneaux (Jr., Ozark, Mo.) has reached base safely in each of Missouri State's last eight games, the club's longest active streak. Senior teammates Bethany Sullinger (Kansas City, Mo.) and Elena Gambill (Broken Arrow, Okla.) have reached safely six ball games in a row. The Bears' season-best hitting streak and reached base streak is 13 by Erika Velasquez Zimmer (Feb. 18 to March 16).
    ?    The Bears are the only MVC team to rank in the top three in the league in team hitting, pitching and fielding. Entering the week, Missouri State's .310 team batting average ranks second in The Valley (and 44th nationally), while its 2.61 ERA is third. MSU's .958 fielding average is the second-best defensive effort in the conference this season.
    ?    In her only pitching appearance last week, junior Kaitlin Beason (Webb City, Mo.) made a bid to become MSU's 14th player to throw a no-hitter. Beason faced the minimum through 5.2 innings against Loyola on March 26 (game one) before surrendering a bunt single with two outs in the sixth. Loyola added a pair of singles in the seventh, but Beason closed out the 4-0 victory and secured her fifth shutout of the season, which ranks 14th nationally.
    ?    Missouri State has matched or out-hit 13 of its last 14 opponents and is 10-4 in that span since March 5. For the season, MSU is hitting .310 as a team with 222 hits in 27 games 8.22 per game while allowing just 168 (6.22). The Bears are now 15-3 when out-hitting their opponents.
    ?    The Bears have turned 13 double plays through their first 27 games (0.48 per game), which ranks 27th among the    nation's 291 Division I programs.
    ?    Missouri State's pitchers have thrown 18 consecutive scoreless innings heading into the week. MSU outscored Loyola by a 15-1 margin in last weekend's Valley sweep of the Ramblers, allowing just a second-inning run in game one.
    ?    Six of Missouri State's 11 losses this season have come by a single run. MSU is 2-6 in one-run games.
    ?    Senior Bethany Sullinger (Kansas City, Mo.) led the Bears' offense in the Loyola series, hitting .500 with team highs 4 RBI and 6 total bases on the weekend with a pair of doubles.
 
Head Coach Holly Hesse
   Holly Hesse (Creighton, 1982) is 742-732-2 (.503) in her 29th season as head coach at Missouri State and overall. 
   She the second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history and joined the 700-victory club with a 4-0 win at Illinois State on April 18, 2015, completing a doubleheader sweep in Normal, Ill.
   She is also the winningest softball coach in Missouri State history. Her tenure includes two regular-season MVC titles, five MVC tournament crowns and five NCAA Tournament appearances. Hesse recorded her 300th win in 2000, her 400th win in 2004, her 500th in 2007 and victory number 600 in 2012.  Missouri State leads all schools with 70 wins in the MVC Tournament and Hesse has the second-most MVC Tournament wins with 49. Hesse started the 2017 campaign ranked 36th among all active NCAA Division I coaches with 726 career victories.
   Hesse's 2016 squad finished ranked 13th in the country with a .973 fielding percentage. The Bears went 22-30 and earned a spot in the MVC Tournament in a do-or-die series to end the regular season.  Her team rallied to the challenge and carried the momentum to the MVC Tournament quarterfinals.
 
The Series
   Missouri State leads the all-time series with Bradley by a 56-33 margin in a rivalry that dates back to 1983. The Bears are 21-15 all-time in Peoria and took two out of three from the Braves on their last visit to town in 2015.
   Last season, MSU and BU split four games with Bradley take two-of-three at Killian Stadium in Springfield before Missouri State avenged the losses with a 6-3 win over BU in the MVC Tournament. Missouri State has won the last three series in Peoria, including a three-game sweep over Bradley in 2011.
 
Scouting the Opponent
  Bradley is coming off a series win at Evansville last weekend with the Braves winning two out of three to improve to 3-3 i the MVC standings. BU started league play at SIU where the Salukis won two of three.
   Leading the way for Bradley is leadoff sensation Kelly Kapp who is hitting .468 overall and .476 in Valley games. She has also successful in 37-of-42 stolen base attempts, which ranks second nationally. Kapp ranks 17th nationally and second in the MVC in batting average, while teammate Caitlyn McCarron leads the MVC and ranks fifth nationally in hitting a .484. McCarron has belted 12 doubles and 5 home runs, which ranks her fifth nationally in both categories, and has a stellar .839 slugging percentage. Bradley has a 4.34 team ERA, but has gotten quality efforts of late from Jaelen Hull who is 8-2 in the circle (2-1 in MVC games) with a 2.53 ERA and 52 strikeouts.