Saturday, March 24
CU Sports Complex
TBA
Creighton University
3
vs
1
Wichita State
Bluejays Remain Perfect in MVC Softball With Wins Over Shockers
3/24/2007 3:00:00 AM | Softball
OMAHA, Neb. Jamie Reiss extended her hitting streak to 17 games with a pair of two-hit outings as the Creighton softball team swept a doubleheader from Wichita State (16-20, 4-3 MVC) Saturday afternoon at the CU Sports Complex. The Jays won game one 3-1 behind a three-run home run from Bailey Dawson and topped the Shockers 5-2 in the night cap, improving to 5-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference, 21-6 overall.
Creighton fell behind the Shockers in fourth inning of game one when Cynthia Verhulst drove a line drive over the fence in right center field. The solo home run was Verhulst's team-leading eighth of the season and gave the Shockers a 1-0 lead.
After the Bluejays had a runner cut down at the plate in the bottom of the fourth, they broke through for three runs in the fifth inning. Lau Emmsley-Chang led off the inning with a bloop single to right field and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Laura Kratochvil was then retired for the second out, while pinch-hitting in the ninth spot. That brought up the hot-hitting Reiss with a runner on second and two out.
Reiss had tripled in the first inning and doubled in the third, so the Shockers pitched around the senior to get to CU's leading RBI threat in Dawson. After the four-pitch walk to Reiss, Dawson drove the first pitch she saw from Margo Pruis down the left field line, hooking around the left field foul pole for her 23rd, 24th and 25th RBIs of the season on her fifth home run of the campaign.
That was more than enough for the MVC's ERA leader, freshman Tara Oltman. The rookie improved to 12-2 with a four-hit complete game. She allowed just the solo home run, walked none and struck out six for her seventh straight win.
Pruis dropped to 9-8 in the loss, going six innings, allowing just five hits, three earned runs, two walks and eight strikeouts.
In game two, the Bluejays jumped on top in the bottom of the first inning. Reiss walked to lead off the game and would later stand on third after a one-out infield hit by Michelle Graner. After a strike out, Graner stole second with Kratochvil at the plate. Kratochvil then sent a 2-2 pitch back up the middle, scoring both Reiss and Graner with the first two runs of the game.
WSU answered with a solo home run off the bat of starting pitcher Ashly Bright (4-8) to cut the lead in half in the top of the second. But in the bottom of the inning, the Jays scored an unearned run on a Reiss double to go up 3-1 after two innings.
The Shockers again closed within one in the fifth when a lead off home run by Lisa Jones made the score 3-2 in favor of CU. And again CU answered with a single tally in the bottom of the frame. TJ Eadus scored from first on a Jessica German double off the center field fence to give the Jays a two-run lead. Another unearned run crossed the plate for the Jays in the sixth for an insurance run. Reiss scored on a sacrifice fly by Eadus to bring the final score to 5-2.
Amanda Hess (8-3) picked up the win for the Jays in game two, with Oltman coming on in relief to pick up her first career save. Hess went five innings, allowing two runs on four hits, while striking out nine and walking two. Oltman tossed the final two innings, allowed a hit and walk to go along with one strike out.
After going 2-for-2 in game one, Reiss went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI in game two. For the day, the senior out of Papillion-La Vista went 4-for-5 with two walks and extended her hitting streak to 17 games while raising her batting average to .444 on the year.
The Bluejays will look for the sweep of the Shockers on Sunday with a single game at noon.
Creighton fell behind the Shockers in fourth inning of game one when Cynthia Verhulst drove a line drive over the fence in right center field. The solo home run was Verhulst's team-leading eighth of the season and gave the Shockers a 1-0 lead.
After the Bluejays had a runner cut down at the plate in the bottom of the fourth, they broke through for three runs in the fifth inning. Lau Emmsley-Chang led off the inning with a bloop single to right field and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Laura Kratochvil was then retired for the second out, while pinch-hitting in the ninth spot. That brought up the hot-hitting Reiss with a runner on second and two out.
Reiss had tripled in the first inning and doubled in the third, so the Shockers pitched around the senior to get to CU's leading RBI threat in Dawson. After the four-pitch walk to Reiss, Dawson drove the first pitch she saw from Margo Pruis down the left field line, hooking around the left field foul pole for her 23rd, 24th and 25th RBIs of the season on her fifth home run of the campaign.
That was more than enough for the MVC's ERA leader, freshman Tara Oltman. The rookie improved to 12-2 with a four-hit complete game. She allowed just the solo home run, walked none and struck out six for her seventh straight win.
Pruis dropped to 9-8 in the loss, going six innings, allowing just five hits, three earned runs, two walks and eight strikeouts.
In game two, the Bluejays jumped on top in the bottom of the first inning. Reiss walked to lead off the game and would later stand on third after a one-out infield hit by Michelle Graner. After a strike out, Graner stole second with Kratochvil at the plate. Kratochvil then sent a 2-2 pitch back up the middle, scoring both Reiss and Graner with the first two runs of the game.
WSU answered with a solo home run off the bat of starting pitcher Ashly Bright (4-8) to cut the lead in half in the top of the second. But in the bottom of the inning, the Jays scored an unearned run on a Reiss double to go up 3-1 after two innings.
The Shockers again closed within one in the fifth when a lead off home run by Lisa Jones made the score 3-2 in favor of CU. And again CU answered with a single tally in the bottom of the frame. TJ Eadus scored from first on a Jessica German double off the center field fence to give the Jays a two-run lead. Another unearned run crossed the plate for the Jays in the sixth for an insurance run. Reiss scored on a sacrifice fly by Eadus to bring the final score to 5-2.
Amanda Hess (8-3) picked up the win for the Jays in game two, with Oltman coming on in relief to pick up her first career save. Hess went five innings, allowing two runs on four hits, while striking out nine and walking two. Oltman tossed the final two innings, allowed a hit and walk to go along with one strike out.
After going 2-for-2 in game one, Reiss went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI in game two. For the day, the senior out of Papillion-La Vista went 4-for-5 with two walks and extended her hitting streak to 17 games while raising her batting average to .444 on the year.
The Bluejays will look for the sweep of the Shockers on Sunday with a single game at noon.
Players Mentioned
SS
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
1B
/ Softball
OF/1B
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
IF
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