Schroeder sparks Bradley with big week

Lake Zurich graduate Maria Schroeder and her Bradley softball team are off and running.

The catcher was named the Missouri Valley Conference player of the week when she helped the Braves to a 5-0 record at the Mardi Gras Classic in Lafayette, La.

Schroeder, a junior, hit .438 with 2 triples, 2 homers, 5 runs and 8 RBI in the five games as the Braves posted their first five-game win streak since the end of the 2015 regular season.

They are off to their best start (9-6 overall) since the 2010 season.

After going hitless in a 5-3 victory against Bowling Green to open tournament play, Schroeder was an impressive 7-for-13 (. 538) over the final four games. She slugged a pair of triples, scored twice and drove in 3 runs in a 12-5 win over Mississippi Valley State.

Schroeder followed that with a 2-for-4 effort with a stolen base and one RBI to help the Braves to a 4-2 victory against Maryland the next afternoon. In Bradley's fourth game in less than 24 hours, She went 2-for-3 with a single, walk and 2 runs while also belting a 2-run homer in the 4-run fifth inning as the Braves rallied for a 6-3 victory vs. Dartmouth.

But her biggest at-bat of the weekend came in her final plate appearance.

Behind the plate for Bradley's 1-hitter against No. 1 Louisiana-Lafayette, which included a no-hit bid into the sixth, Schroeder hit a 2-run homer to help give Bradley a 2-1 lead over the Ragin' Cajuns.

Lafayette had grabbed a 1-0 lead in the sixth on a bases-loaded single, before Schroeder's game-winning homer in the bottom half of the inning.

She finished the weekend with an impressive 1.063 slugging percentage and .500 on base percentage.

Schroeder is now ninth in school history with 72 career RBI and helped Bradley to its first victory against a ranked opponent since a 2-1 win over No. 13 Arizona on Feb. 8, 2013 in Tempe, Ariz.

The MVC player of the week honor is the first of Schroeder's career and she is the first Bradley player to earn the distinction since senior Kelly Kapp last February.

Schroeder is third on the team with a .362 batting average and leads the squad with 6 walks, 5 doubles and 2 triples. She is second on the team with 14 runs and 13 RBI with a .681 slugging percentage.

• Wisconsin-Oshkosh freshman pitcher and utility player Claire Petrus (Carmel Catholic) leads Oshkosh with a batting average of .583

She helped the Titans win the Finlandia Dome Classic in Marquette, Mich., as the team went 5-1.

With 13 plate appearances and 12 at-bats, Petrus had 7 hits (5 were doubles) for 6 RBI and an on-base percentage of .615.

Petrus notched her first save after pitching three scoreless innings against Wisconsin-Superior. She yielded 2 hits and walked one while striking out three.

She pitched around runners in scoring position during the fifth and sixth

innings before tossing a perfect seventh inning against the Yellow Jackets in a 4-2 win.

The Titans concluded their six-game trip to Michigan with a .383 team batting average, 29 doubles, .631 slugging percentage and .464 on-base percentage.

They committed just 4 errors and compiled a 0.82 ERA. Oshkosh has outscored its opponents 60-5.

Men's track

Illinois redshirt junior Jonathan Wells (Grant) broke his own Illinois school record in the heptathlon and earned first team All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships. It was his third All-America accolade as the Illini placed 30th overall in the 62-team field.

Wells broke his own record by scoring 5,786 points across the seven events. Personal-record performances in the long jump, shot put and pole vault highlighted the two-day competition for the Illini junior.

"He's progressing well," said Illinois coach Mike Turk of Wells on the Illini website . "He's got some things to do to go to the next level, but he's capable of doing it. The thing I was really pleased with was how well he handled transitioning between events and competing at a high level in each event. That's a hard thing for some multi athletes, and some never figure it out. I thought he did a great job with keeping his emotions in check, progressing through the competition and making the proper adjustments."

Entering day two in fourth place with 3,418 points, Wells opened competition with an 8.11 time in the 60-meter hurdles, fourth-best among his competitors, to score 954 points.

After setting two personal-best performances on day one of competition, he added a third in on the second day with a height of 15-7.25 in the pole vault.

Wells cleared the first five bars without a single miss, and then cleared the new lifetime-best mark on his second attempt. The height topped his previous personal best of 15-5 at the Illini Classic earlier this year.

It was the second time he's broken the school record this season. Wells first broke Steve Monte's school record of 5,577 points during the first week of February at the Husker Invite when he tallied 5,685 points.

Men's hockey

Air Force junior forward Jordan Himley of Mundelein was named the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Month in February as he led all skaters with 11 points in eight games. He helping the Falcons to a 6-1-1 record and the second seed in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament.

Himley's 11 points came in the form of 4 goals and 7 assists, giving him 14 goals and 10 assists in league play.

He had a point in six of the eight games and multiple points in four. He tied a career-high with 3 points, a goal and 2 assists in a win over Bentley, which contributed to one of his two 4-point weekends, the other coming against American International College.

Please let us know

Lake County sports fans, please send news items about former local prep athletes excelling in college athletics to jleusch@dailyherald.com.