Softball Heads To South Dakota For Midweek Nonconference Tilt

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Creighton heads to Vermillion, South Dakota for a midweek nonconference matchup against the South Dakota Coyotes.

Matchup
Wednesday, April 11 • Creighton (16-12) at South Dakota (14-27) • 3 p.m.

Follow The Games
Live stats for Wednesday's game will be provided through South Dakota's website, and a link to those stats can be found on Creighton's schedule page.

Scoring updates and infographics will be provided via Twitter at @BluejaySoftball.

Scouting Creighton (16-12)
The Bluejays head to South Dakota for a midweek road contest after going 3-1 last week including a 10-2 five-inning victory against the same South Dakota team last Wednesday, and two wins during three games at Butler in Creighton's first BIG EAST road trip.

Creighton leads the BIG EAST in batting average (.305), on-base percentage (.400) and scoring (5.46 runs per game).

Senior Sam Crowley leads the team and ranks fourth in the BIG EAST with a .388 batting average. She also paces the Bluejays and is second in the league with a .618 slugging percentage which includes a team-best five home runs. The senior center fielder is also tied for the conference lead with eight sacrifice bunts. Ashley Cantu leads the team in hits (34), runs scored (25) and walks (13), and is one of two Bluejays to start all 28 games this season.

Hope Moreno has also started each game this season after playing the first three seasons of her collegiate career at UTEP, and leads Creighton with 20 RBIs. She also paces the Bluejays and the BIG EAST with a .479 on-base percentage (26 hits, 13 walks, 7 HBP).

The Bluejays own a 3.42 team-ERA (2nd in BIG EAST) led byBryana Clark who boasts a 2.64 ERA (5th in BIG EAST) during a 74.1 innings pitched.

Freshman Kiele Miller leads the team with 82 strikeouts during a team-best 77.1 innings, owns a 3.53 ERA and has a Bluejay-best seven victories. The freshman owns 7.4 strikeouts per seven innings, which is the second-best mark in the league.

Scouting South Dakota (14-27)
The Coyotes have lost seven of their last eight games entering Wednesday, including two of three this past weekend against South Dakota State. All three games were played at neutral locations (two in Omaha, one in Sioux Falls) because of winter weather conditions.

Jessica Rogers leads the team with a .362 batting average and is one of seven regular starters hitting better than .300 as the team holds a .290 average.

Rogers also holds team highs in home runs (11), RBIs (35) and slugging percentage (.743).

Omaha native and lead-off hitter Camille Fowler paces the squad in hits (42) and runs scored (28).

The pitching staff holds a 5.81 ERA, with Dustie Durham leading the Coyotes with a 4.24 ERA during 100.2 innings pitched.

Head coach Robert Wagner is in his second season at the helm of South Dakota.

Series History Against Coyotes
Creighton leads the all-time series against South Dakota 14-7.

The Bluejays defeated the Coyotes 10-2 in five innings last Wednesday.

Creighton led 10-0 before South Dakota scored twice during the top of the fifth inning.

Wednesday marks the first contest between the two schools in Vermillion since 1985, and Creighton head coach Brent Vigness' first trip to the campus of the University of South Dakota (25th year as head coach).

Miller Named to BIG EAST Honor Roll
Freshman Kiele MIller earned a spot on this week's BIG EAST Honor Roll.

Miller recorded 19 strikeouts during 14.2 innings of work and posted a 1.91 ERA, a win, and a save as the Bluejays finished the week 3-1, including 2-1 during BIG EAST play at Butler.

The freshman started the week by throwing four innings and striking out six, while allowing only one hit during Creighton's 10-2 five-inning victory against South Dakota.

She also opened Creighton's road trip to Indianapolis by matching a career-high with 10 strikeouts during five innings of work, before recording her first career save in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader versus Butler.

Crowley Near Top of BIG EAST In Hitting
Senior Sam Crowley leads the Bluejays with a .382 batting average, which is good enough for the fourth-best average in the BIG EAST.

The Green Bay native also paces Creighton and ranks second in the BIG EAST with a .618 slugging percentage, which includes a team-best five home runs.

Crowley entered this season with only 20 hits during 106 career at-bats (.189). This year through 26 games she has 29 hits during 76 at-bats and has seven extra-base hits after having only five in her first three seasons (all last year).

Cantu Continues To Lead-off For The Jays
Sophomore Ashley Cantu has hit in the lead-off position of the batting order for each of Creighton's 28 games.

Cantu went 3-for-3, and matched a career-high with four RBIs during the Bluejays' 10-2 five-inning victory against South Dakota last Wednesday. She also scored twice, walked once and launched her second career home run.

The sophomore holds a .370 batting average and leads the Bluejays in hits (34), runs (25), walks (13) and stolen bases (3-3). Additionally, Cantu has reached based because of an error six different times and on a fielder's choice six times.

She has failed to record a hit only seven times this season and only had one game (March 4 at Missouri) in which she has not reached base at least once.

Cantu is hitting .500 (19 hits) as the lead-off hitter of an inning.

Bluejays Conclude Home Stretch
Creighton traveled to Indiana this past weekend after playing 10 of its last 11 games at home and finishing 6-4 during those contests, including 2-1 in BIG EAST play.

The only game not played at the Creighton Sports Complex was on March 21 against Nebraska in Lincoln (about 59 miles from Creighton's campus).

Additionally, the Bluejays did not travel by plane during the month of March.

Miller Shines In the Circle
Freshman Kiele Miller opened her BIG EAST career with two victories and followed those performances by allowing only one hit during Creighton's five-inning victory over South Dakota on Wednesday.

She pitched 13.0 innings during two appearances against Providence (March 28), including a complete game, and allowed only one earned run while striking out 16 and not walking a batter.

Miller struck out a season-high 10 during 6.0 innings of relief work as the Bluejays defeated Providence 7-6 in extra innings during the first game of Creighton's BIG EAST schedule (March 28).

The Dripping Springs, Texas native struck out six, walked two batters and did not allow a run during four innings of work against South Dakota on Wednesday.

After surrendering six earned runs during three innings on March 17 against Wichita State, Miller has allowed only eight earned runs during her last 32.2 innings (1.71 ERA).

Softball Heads To South Dakota For Midweek Nonconference Tilt

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Players Mentioned

Ashley Cantu

Bryana Clark

Sam Crowley

Kiele Miller

Hope Moreno