Creighton University
Northern Iowa
Softball Crushes UNI, 10-0
4/29/2007 3:00:00 AM | Softball
The first-place Bluejays (35-11-1, 17-3-1 MVC) jumped on top with a record-tying blast by Eadus in the third. Jamie Reiss walked with one out and with her on second base, the Panthers (18-30, 4-15 MVC) opted to intentionally walk hot-hitting Bailey Dawson to get to the Jays' leading home run hitter. Eadus made UNI pay for the intentional pass and launched a towering drive over the left field fence to put the Jays up 3-0. Her 13th round tripper of the season tied the school record, previously accomplished by Lauren Cisneros (2006) and Stacey Rybar (2004).
Creighton then exploded for seven runs in the fourth inning, all with two outs. Lau Emmsley-Chang started the two-out rally with a single to left field and then advanced to third base on a stolen base and a wild pitch before scoring on an RBI double by Michelle Koch. Jamie Reiss followed with a single up the middle to score Koch and put the Jays up 5-0. Laura Kratochvil then collected her second pinch-hit RBI single of the weekend to score Reiss with the third run of the inning.
Dawson reached on an error by the UNI third baseman, which scored another run for the Jays and kept the inning alive. Eadus walked on four pitches and put two on for Marcano. The CU designated player launched a three run homer deep beyond the center field fence to put the Jays up 10-0. It was Marcano's seventh home run of the season and Creighton's 50th, extending the school record.
While the offense was clicking, the rookie Oltman was cruising in the circle. She retired the first nine UNI hitters of the game and had a no-hitter into the fifth inning with two outs. Morgan Paulson snapped the no-hit bid with a double off the center field fence but she was thrown out at the plate to end the game trying to score on Mandy Kumamoto's single up the middle.
Oltman (22-6) established a school record for victories by a freshman, surpassing Marcia Jacobsen's 21 set in 1981. The right-hander tossed five innings, allowed two hits, walked one and struck out six in her seventh shutout of the season. She now has 184 strikeouts on the season, which ties for the fourth most in school history as only the MVC and CU's all-time strikeout leader Tammy Nielsen has more in a season.
The Bluejays will take a week off from game play for finals before concluding the regular season at home against Bradley next weekend. CU and BU play a Saturday noon doubleheader, in which CU's four seniors will be honored between games.
