Creighton University
Wichita State
Softball Tops Wichita State 3-1; Plays for MVC Title Saturday
5/12/2007 3:00:00 AM | Softball
Eadus got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning when she took the first pitch she saw from Wichita State (37-28) starter Margo Pruis deep beyond the center field fence to give the Bluejays a 2-0 lead. The first-team All-MVC catcher's 15th blast of the season extended her school record for round trippers in a season and drove in Jamie Reiss who led off the game for CU with a single.
It was Dawson's line drive home run to right field that knocked Pruis from the game. The sophomore shortstop battled through a 10-pitch at bat, including five consecutive foul balls before sending her ninth home run over the wall in right, giving the Jays a 3-0 lead.
The Shockers broke the Oltman shutout with a leadoff solo home run in the fourth inning off the bat of Cynthia Verhulst. That was one of just two hits for WSU, as the MVC Pitcher of the Year settled down to retire 12 of the final 14 hitters she faced after the blast.
Oltman improved to 24-7 and moved her ERA to 1.13, the 10th leading ERA in the nation which is also the best among the nation's freshmen. The MVC Newcomer of the Year walked three and struck out three in the 96-pitch complete game.
Reiss finished 2-for-3 to bump her team-leading average to .379. Seven Bluejays had at least one hit in the game.
Pruis (23-12) took the loss, allowing three runs and five hits in 2.1 innings of work before giving way to Ashly Bright in the circle.
The title game of the tournament will be played at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and televised live in select markets on Fox Sports Net. In Omaha the game will be tape delayed and aired at 5:30 p.m. on Cox Channel 2, while it will also be shown Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. on FSN Midwest. The game will also air on DirecTV channel 647 and the Dish Network channel 418, both at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
NOTES: Creighton has won at least one game in every MVC tournament since 1999 and not lost its opening game of the year since 2000 ... CU will aim to become the first regular-season champion to win the tournament since Illinois State did so in 2001 (in Omaha) ... The Bluejays are now 30-18 all-time in the MVC tournament, including 12-2 in their last 14 games ... Michelle Koch extended her season-long hitting streak to seven games with a single in the second inning ... CU improved to 14-0 on the season when hitting at least two home runs in a game ... CU has now hit a school record 56 homers this spring ... Eadus' home run was just the third this season for CU in the first inning ... Eadus had previously been 2-for-25 (.080) in the first-inning this season ... Eadus is tied with Caitlin Marcano for seventh place on the career home run chart with 15 ... Dawson is now tied for ninth place on the CU career chart with 13 career long balls ... Dawson's RBI was the 40th of the season as she became the fifth player in school history to drive in at least 40 in a year. She is three shy of the school record 43 set by current assistant coach Abby Johnson in 2004 ... Oltman became the fifth player in school history to pitch at least 200 innings in a season ... Jessica German's sixth inning single was the first MVC postseason hit for the senior in 16 at bats in the Valley postseason ... CU is 9-4 on the season when scoring in the first inning and 29-6 when scoring first this season ... CU is 33-3 when scoring at least three runs this spring ... The Jays improved to 3-2 on Fridays this season, while they will carry a 16-2 mark into Saturday games tomorrow ... CU will play a ranked-team on Saturday in the championship game in No. 24 SIU, the Jays are 4-4-1 against top-25 foes this year, including two wins over the Salukis ... The Creighton baseball team was in attendance at the game, as they are in town to play Illinois State starting tonight at 6 p.m.
