With arm and bat, Ada Bradford has Leslie softball pushing for more
Since her arrival in high school, Ada Bradford has been an instrumental piece in plenty of success for the Leslie softball team.
The junior pitcher has guided the Blackhawks to three GLAC championships and has been part of a pair of district titles. Bradford also helped Leslie reach the Greater Lansing Hall of Fame Softball Classic for the first time last season.
Now she's pushing for more.
Bradford and the Blackhawks will have a chance to make some more noise on Friday after punching their ticket to the championship game of the Softball Classic with a 4-2 semifinal win over Holt on Wednesday at Ranney Park.
"We're really excited to have this (opportunity) because last year was our first year in the (Softball) Classic," Bradford said. "We hadn't won a league championship even until our group was freshmen. It is big for our program and it's good for our school I feel like. We're just excited to be making noise."
Bradford, a two-time Division 3 first team all-state selection by the Michigan High School Softball Coaches Association, played a big part in helping the Blackhawks advance to face DeWitt in the title game. She added to a big junior season, striking out nine and allowing just one earned run while pushing her record to 25-3 in the circle this spring. Bradford also hit a two-run home run to push her home run total on the season to eight and RBI total to 51.
"She does that from time to time," Leslie coach Rich Bradford said. "(She has) pretty good power here and there so it doesn't surprise me when she does get one every once in a while. She does a pretty good job in the circle, too."
Leslie, which had its Softball Classic run end in the semis last year, faced a 1-0 deficit when it put together a big third inning. The Blackhawks capitalized on a two-out error to tie the score before Bradford followed with her two-run blast to right centerfield.
Those three runs proved to be enough for the Blackhawks to put themselves in a position to play for their first Softball Classic title.
"It's been great playing in this tournament the last two years and just making it to the championship is really a great opportunity," Rich Bradford said. "It's exciting."
Lola Knox and Eeva Louma drove in runs for Holt.
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @brian_calloway.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Leslie advances to Softball Classic title game with win over Holt
