Softball Plays Midweek Games With Drake and SDSU

Creighton at Drake
Tuesday, April 21 ? Buel Field ? Des Moines, Iowa ? 4 p.m.
Creighton hosts South Dakota State
Wednesday, April 22 ? CU Sports Complex ? Omaha, Neb. ? 5 p.m. (DH)

This Week: Creighton is scheduled to play six games this week, starting with a single game at second-place Drake on Tuesday. The Jays then return home to host South Dakota State in a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m., on Wednesday. CU travels to Missouri State this weekend to play its final MVC road games of the season, with a pair against the Bears on Saturday and a single game on Sunday. Fans can follow live stats for every game on CU's athletics website at www.gocreighton.com.

Last Week: The Bluejays went 3-2 at home in MVC play last week, splitting a doubleheader with Drake on Wednesday and winning a three-game series from No. 24 Southern Illinois. CU won the opener 2-1 and fell 4-2 in the night cap against DU to open the week. Tara Oltman tossed her first career no-hitter in a 5-0 win over No. 24 SIU to open the series, as Renae Sinkler homered twice in the win. SIU edged the Jays 3-2 in the second game, before Oltman again blanked the Salukis 3-0 in the series finale, tying her season-high with 11 strikeouts. Oltman was named the MVC Pitcher of the Week, as she recorded all but one out for CU last week, going 3-1 with a 1.01 ERA and 41 Ks in 34.2 innings. Sinkler was named co-MVC Player of the Week after going 7-for-14 (.500) with three home runs and four RBI.

Scouting Creighton (26-12, 14-4 MVC): Creighton is the two-time defending Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champion and has appeared in five NCAA Tournaments in the last six years ... The Bluejays are 18-5 in their last 23 games, but have alternated wins and losses over their last seven games ... CU leads the MVC and ranks 11th in the NCAA with a .975 fielding percentage, including .979 in MVC play ... The Jays lead the MVC with a 1.68 overall ERA and 0.78 Valley ERA ... Junior Tara Oltman is the all-time winningest pitcher in school history, with 78 career victories ... The right-hander is 11-3 with two saves and a 0.60 ERA in MVC play, while she ranks among NCAA leaders in ERA (0.93), wins (21) and shutouts (9) ... Junior first baseman Renae Sinkler is hitting a team-best .352, including .391 in MVC play, and leads the team with nine home runs, 28 RBI, .667 slugging percentage and .473 on-base percentage ... Michelle Koch is batting .400 (16-40) in her last 12 games to move her average to .337 ... Senior Jessica Wakasugi has started Creighton's last 203 games in center field ? every game of her career ? and her .317 career average is ninth in CU history ... Senior catcher Laura Kratochvil suffered a broken leg in practice on April 2 and will miss the rest of the season; at the time of her injury she already had career-highs and led the team in hits, average, home runs and RBI.

Head Coach: Head coach Brent Vigness (Central College, 1988) is in his 16th season at Creighton, owning a record of 507-348-2 with the Bluejays. Vigness also served as head coach at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., for five years prior to coming to Creighton. His career record in 21 years as a head coach is 655-419-3. He has led the Jays to five MVC Tournament titles (1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007), five regular-season MVC crowns (1998, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2008), six NCAA Tournament appearances (1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008) and was named MVC Coach of the Year in 1998 and guided the MVC Coaching Staff of the Year in 2007 and 2008.

Scouting Drake (26-17, 11-5 MVC): The Bulldogs are 12-5 in their last 15 games ... DU is 8-1 at home this year, including 7-1 in MVC play ... The Bulldogs rank eighth in the MVC in hitting (.237) and seventh in ERA (2.84), but still rank third in the league in runs scored (160) and Drake pitching leads the MVC with 313 strikeouts ... Jenna DeLong (16-7, 1.98 ERA) has 176 Ks in 155.1 innings, while Brynne Dordel (9-8, 3.27 ERA) has 125 Ks in 115.2 innings pitched ... Elena Leon leads the MVC in runs (40), slugging percentage (.727) and on-base percentage (.494) ... She also ranks among Valley leaders and tops the team with 11 home runs, 10 doubles, 28 RBI and 12 stolen bases ... Erin Bly (.328) is the only other Bulldog hitting better than .300.

CU-Drake Series: Creighton is 49-24 all-time against Drake, including 29-18 under Brent Vigness ... The Jays swept the regular-season series from DU last year, shutting out the Bulldogs twice and out-scoring them 22-5 in the regular-season ... Drake scored three unearned runs thanks to three CU errors in a 3-2 Bulldog win in the MVC Tournament last year ... The Bulldogs had just one hit in that 3-2 win.

Last Week vs. Drake: Creighton and Drake split a doubleheader in Omaha last Wednesday, with CU winning the opener 2-1, before losing game two 4-2. DU took a 1-0 lead in game one, while CU tied the game in the fourth and Renae Sinkler hit a solo home run in the sixth to complete the comeback. Tara Oltman allowed just two hits and none after the third inning in the win. DU scored three runs in the first inning of game two, knocking Kylie Hovinga from the game after recording just one out. The Jays scored one in the bottom of the seventh and left the bases loaded in the 4-2 loss. Jenna DeLong had 14 strikeouts in seven innings pitched in the twin bill for Drake.

Individuals vs. Drake: The combined career batting average of current Creighton players against Drake is .293, as current Bluejays are 56-for-191 in their careers against DU pitching, but the Jays went just 10-for-48 (.208) in the doubleheader last week ... Seniors Bailey Dawson (.382) and Jessica Wakasugi (.360) lead the way against Drake, as Dawson is 13-for-34 with two home runs, three doubles, a triple, seven runs and six RBI in 11 career games against DU. She had six hits, four runs and four RBI in four games against DU last year ... Wakasugi is 9-for-25 with four runs scored against DU. She was 5-for-9 (.556) and scored four runs against Drake in four games last year ... Michelle Koch (.333) homered twice against DU last year and had three RBI and five runs in four games against Drake in 2008 ... Lau Emmsley-Chang is 4-for-11 (.364) against Drake in her career ... Cassidy Nee was 2-for-5 with three RBI against Drake last year ... Renae Sinkler is 6-for-17 (.353) with two home runs, a double, four RBI and four runs scored in six career games against DU ... Tara Oltman is 5-1 with a save, three shutouts and 0.44 ERA in eight career appearances against Drake. She has pitched 47.2 innings, allowed 21 hits, three earned runs, walked 14 and struck out 48. DU is hitting .133 against Oltman.

Scouting SDSU (9-31, 6-9 Summit): The Jackrabbits are 3-22 in non-conference play and 4-13 in true road games ... SDSU started the season 1-9 ... They are 1-3 against the MVC (beating Bradley 1-0), while they are 0-3 against Nebraska ... The Jacks are hitting just .238 as a team, led by Ashley Durazo's .379 average ... Durazo also tops the team with seven doubles and 19 RBI ... Dani Broshar is hitting just .200, but leads the team with four home runs ... Brooke (.322) and Brittany Postma (.304) are the only other SDSU players hitting better than .243, while Brittany leads the team with 10 stolen bases ... Opponents are hitting .330 against SDSU, while the Jackrabbit team ERA is 4.78 ... Pam Nicholson (4-9, 4.48 ERA) and Jenna Marston (4-18, 4.81 ERA) split the majority of innings for the Jackrabbits ... SDSU has a .936 fielding percentage, having made 73 errors on the season.

CU-SDSU Series: Creighton is 4-1 all-time against South Dakota State, including a 4-3 come-from-behind CU win on Feb. 20 at the Tulsa Select Festival ... The first four meetings in the series have come at the CU Sports Complex, with CU sweeping a doubleheader in 2005 and splitting a twin bill in 2007.

Earlier vs. SDSU: Creighton and SDSU met in Tulsa on Feb. 20, with CU needing two runs in the bottom of the seventh to post a 4-3 win. The Jays scored first, leading 1-0 after two, but allowed two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth, before getting a run back in the fifth to trail 3-2. Both CU runs which scored in the bottom of the seventh were unearned because of one of four SDSU errors in the game. Tara Oltman threw 2.2 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief for the win. Laura Kratochvil was 3-for-4, while Renae Sinkler and Michelle Koch each had two hits in the win.

Individuals vs. SDSU: Creighton hosted South Dakota State in a doubleheader in 2007 and played a game earlier this season with the Jackrabbits. Michelle Graner set a school record and tied the MVC mark by hitting three home runs in game one of the 2007 twin bill, while she finished that DH 4-for-7 with four RBI and four runs scored. Bailey Dawson was 4-for-8 in the 2007 twin bill and is hitting .455 with four runs scored in three games against SDSU. Michelle Koch is 3-for-8 (.375) and Renae Sinkler is 4-for-11 (.364) with three RBI against the Jacks. Tara Oltman did not pitch in the 2007 meetings with SDSU.

History Making ?W': Junior Tara Oltman is now the winningest pitcher in school history and is rapidly approaching the conference record. With 21 wins this season, she has moved her career win total to 78, moving past Tammy Nielsen's former mark of 76. Oltman is now 78-25 in her career and ranks third in MVC history and just six shy of the Valley record. See the MVC list below and the CU career list on the next page:

Career Wins ? MVC Pitchers
No. Name (School) Wins Years
1. Amy Harre (SIU) 84 2002-05
2. Cassidy Scoggins (SIU) 81 2004-07
3. Tara Oltman (CU) 78 2007-pr.
4. Stacy Birk (ILSU) 77 2004-07
Margo Pruis (WSU) 77 2004-07
6. Tammy Nielsen (CU) 76 2003-05

Appears to be Another TO Record: Junior Tara Oltman not only established the CU career victories record last week, but she has now appeared in more games as a pitcher than any player in school history. With 123 appearances, she has surpassed CU Hall of Famer Kelly Brookhart's former mark of 122 and Tammy Nielsen's 121 career appearances.

20 HR for Sinkler: Renae Sinkler connected for her 20th career home run in Creighton's 2-1 win over Drake last Wednesday, becoming the seventh player in school history to reach that plateau. With 22 career home runs, she now ranks sixth in school history.

Battling the Best: Creighton won two of three games against No. 24 Southern Illinois last weekend to improve its record to 3-3 this year against top-25 opponents. The Jays also lost starting 5-3 at No. 7 Oklahoma on March 1 and split a doubleheader at No. 13 Arizona on March 7, with Tara Oltman shutting out the top-hitting team in the NCAA 6-0, before the UA bats woke up to pound CU in a 19-2 loss. CU was 1-4 against the top-25 last year. The Jays are now 6-2-1 in their last nine home games against the top-25.

Jays Showing Glove: Creighton leads the MVC with a .975 fielding percentage, which ranks 11th in the NCAA this week. CU's .980 fielding percentage in league play is also best in the MVC. The Jays have played 15 error free games this year, compared to just seven from their opponents. CU has committed more than one error in a game just four times this year and not since March 15, a span of 17 straight games with one or no errors.

Perfect Four Score: Creighton is 17-0 when scoring at least four runs this season, but just 9-12 when scoring three or fewer runs.

Omaha Express: Fast-paced, low-scoring games are the norm at the CU Sports Complex this season. Creighton's nine home games this year have averaged a brisk one hour and 39 minutes, while the average score in favor of the Bluejays is 2.4 to 1.3.

Game Starts in the First: While Creighton leads the MVC with a 1.68 ERA, the Bluejays have struggled to get on track in the first inning this year. The 21 runs opponents have scored in the first inning off of CU are the most of any inning against the Jays, while the Jays' first-inning ERA is 2.95. The pitching staff has bounced back to log a 0.74 ERA over the second and third innings, including a best 0.18 ERA in the third frame. In fact, Drake's third inning run last Wednesday was the first and only earned run a CU opponent had scored in the third inning this season (just the third overall third inning run).

Outfield 200: Senior Jessica Wakasugi has started Creighton's last 203 games, serving as the starting center fielder in every game of her Bluejay career.

Offense for Tara: Bluejay ace Tara Oltman is 15-4 in her last 19 decisions. Three of her last four losses have been 1-0 finals. In fact, in her career the Bluejays have lost five 1-0 games and been shutout eight times in her starts. Oltman has lost 24 starts in her career, in which the Bluejays have scored a total of 27 runs.

Home Numbers: While Creighton is 8-4 at home this year, the Jays have struggled to hit at the CU Sports Complex, batting just .221 and scoring 29 runs in their first 12 home games. The Jays have managed success at home due to their slick fielding and tough pitching, as CU's home fielding percentage is an impressive .983 and its home ERA is 1.00, allowing just 12 earned runs, while allowing opponents to bat .164 in Omaha and tossing five shutouts.

See the comparisons below:

Statistic Home Away/Neutral
Record 8-4 18-8
BA .221 .272
Runs 29 117
Runs/gm 2.4 4.5
HR 10 15
SLG% .373 .411
OB% .312 .354
ERA 1.00 2.01
BA Against .164 .218

Wake Up the Bats: While the Bluejays have won 18 of their last 23 games, their offense has struggled in that span, as their pitching has improved upon its 8-7 start. Four of CU's last six losses have been shutouts. The Jays are batting just .242 over their last 23 games. CU's team batting average has dropped 54 points, from .312 down to .258, over its last 23 games.
Since the Jays' 6-0 start in Valley play, they have gone 8-4, while hitting .246 over their last 12 games. The Jays have averaged 2.9 runs and 6.0 hits per game and have 18 extra base hits over their last dozen contests.

Home Sweet Home: Bluejay ace Tara Oltman has enjoyed pitching at the CU Sports Complex in her career, especially over the last two seasons. The junior had a 19-game home winning streak snapped in a 1-0 loss to Bradley on April 4. Oltman is now 21-2 with five saves, a 0.63 ERA, 10 shutouts and two combined shutouts at home over the past two seasons. Opponents are batting just .145 against Oltman in Omaha since the start of the 2008 season.

The 700 Club: Junior Tara Oltman is approaching 700 career strikeouts, in which she'll join Tammy Nielsen as the only two Bluejays to reach that mark. She is 16 Ks shy of becoming the 13th player in MVC history to strikeout at least 700 in a career.

Career Strikeouts ? MVC Pitchers
No. Name (School) Ks Years
1. Darcy Wood (INSU) 939 2005-pr.
2. Tammy Nielsen (CU) 914 2003-05
3. Carisa Winters (SIU) 896 1997-00
4. Margo Pruis (WSU) 853 2004-07
5. Ashley Birdsong (BU) 779 2006-pr.
6. Nora Cagwin (MSU) 767 1996-99
7. Erin Stremsterfer (SIU) 757 1998-01
8. Melissa Porche (MSU) 754 2005-08
9. Katie Markle (UE) 734 2002-05
10. Cassidy Scoggins (SIU) 713 2004-07
11. Tara Oltman (CU) 712 2007-pr.

Home Turf: Creighton is 8-4 at home this year, moving its record to 42-12-1 (.773) over the last three years. The Jays are 7-3 at home in Valley play on the season. After a perfect home MVC mark of 12-0 last year, the Jays are now 30-5-1 (.847) at home in Valley play over the last three years.
Bluejay Home Records since 1994
Year Overall W-L% MVC W-L%
2009 8-4 .667 7-3 .700
2008 19-2 .905 12-0 1.000
2007 15-6-1 .705 11-2-1 .821
2006 8-8 .500 5-5 .500
2005 13-5 .722 9-5 .643
2004 12-5 .706 8-4 .667
2003 5-9 .357 5-8 .385
2002 9-4 .692 9-2 .818
2001 10-8 .556 7-6 .538
2000 9-5 .643 5-3 .625
1999 9-5 .643 7-3 .700
1998 11-3 .786 7-1 .875
1997 10-6 .625 6-0 1.000
1996 6-8 .429 5-5 .500
1995 13-7 .650 7-3 .700
1994 3-7 .300 3-3 .500

Oltman's ERA: After an unusually rough start to the season, Tara Oltman has settled into form as of late. The junior ace has allowed only 11 earned runs in her last 157 innings pitched, for a 0.49 ERA in that span. In that time, her ERA has dropped from 2.42 down to 0.93, which ranks seventh in the NCAA.

Vigness Gets 500: Head coach Brent Vigness picked up his 500th win at Creighton with a 4-0 victory over Bradley on April 4. One of only two coaches in school history, Vigness joins Bluejay Hall of Famer Mary Higgins with 500 victories on the Bluejay bench. Higgins was 564-298 in her 17 seasons at CU.

Sharing Shutouts: Freshman Kylie Hovinga and junior Tara Oltman have combined for a pair of shutouts in April. Hovinga went 4.2 innings and gave way to Oltman with the bases loaded and one out in CU's 4-0 win over Bradley on April 4. Hovinga then went three innings and Oltman four in a 1-0 blanking of the best hitting team in the MVC, UNI on April 7. The pair also combined for a 4-2 win over Indiana State on April 10.

Kratochvil's Career: Laura Kratochvil's career has come to an end early, as the senior catcher broke a bone in her leg in practice on April 2. Kratochvil was enjoying a career-year in her final season, as she already had established career highs for hits, home runs and RBI. She led the team with a career-high .338 average and was tops on the team in home runs and RBI when she suffered the injury. Kratochvil's career batting average entering the season was .223, she raised it to .249. She ends her career with 68 RBI on 88 career hits.

The Streaking Note: Creighton won its fourth straight game over in-state foe Nebraska on April 1 and its fourth consecutive at NU's Bowlin Stadium. CU is 7-3 in its last 10 against Nebraska after losing 15 straight in the series. CU's 1-0 loss to Bradley on April 4 snapped CU's 13-game MVC winning streak (dating to last year). It was also CU's first home Valley loss since May 2007, snapping a streak of 17 straight home conference wins. That loss was also ended Tara Oltman's 19-game home winning streak and nine-game overall winning streak this season.

Jays Sweep Honors Twice: On March 23, the Creighton battery of Laura Kratochvil and Tara Oltman were tabbed the MVC Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively. On April 20, Oltman was joined by Renae Sinkler in earn Valley weekly honors, as Sinkler went 7-for-14 with three home runs in five games.

A First at CU: Creighton won five straight one run games March 21-25. Never before in school history had the Bluejays won five consecutive games by just one run.

Double Your Pleasure: Creighton tied a school record with six doubles in its 4-3 10-inning win over Kansas on March 25. CU had previously recorded six doubles in a game three times, but had not done so in 10 years. The last time CU had six doubles in a game was on Feb. 26, 1999 against Detroit. Bailey Dawson, Michelle Graner, Sara Loeffelholz and Jessica Wakasugi each had one double, while Liz McKewon notched her first two career doubles in the win.

Double the Doubles Notes: Bailey Dawson's leadoff double against Drake on April 15th was the 34th double of her career. With 34 two-baggers, she is now tied for seventh on the CU career doubles list.

Three For .300: Three Bluejay upper classmen starters have better than a .300 career batting average, led by senior Jessica Wakasugi's .317 mark which ranks eighth in school history. Michelle Koch's career average of .309 is now tied for 10th in school history, while Renae Sinkler's career mark of .304 is just outside of the top-10.

Something Extra From Liz: Sophomore Liz McKewon has started all 95 games she's played at Creighton and through the first 84 games she had yet to record an extra-base hit. Her 85th game saw her not only hit her first career double, but she had a pair of two-baggers in CU's 4-3 10-inning win at Kansas (March 25). Her bloop double to lead off the 10th inning led to her scoring the game-winning run.

The Run Producer: Senior Bailey Dawson knows how to produce runs, as evident by her lofty career numbers. Dawson ranks third in school history with 114 career RBI, fourth with 27 career home runs, sixth with 115 career runs scored and seventh with 34 career doubles. A starter at shortstop in all 190 of her career games, she has a .291 career average.

Wakasugi Has CLASS: Senior center fielder Jessica Wakasugi has been named one of 30 national candidates for the 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: Classroom, Character, Community and Competition. Wakasugi, a first-team all-MVC performer last year, owns a 3.64 cumulative GPA in business entrepreneurship and marketing.

Same Six Starters: Creighton has started six of the same players in all 38 games this year, with four players starting at the same position in every game. The Jays have had the same left side of the infield in every game, with Liz McKewon and Bailey Dawson starting at third base and shortstop, respectively, each game. Michelle Koch has joined that pair in starting at second base every game. Jessica Wakasugi has pushed her streak of 198 straight CU games started in center field. Renae Sinkler has split starts at first base (26) and designated player (12) and Michelle Graner has shared time in left field (26) and first base (12).

Hovinga Minus Arizona: Freshman Kylie Hovinga is 5-3 with a 2.14 ERA on the season ? that is, if you subtract one game against one of the top offenses in the nation. The Wildcats unleashed an 18-hit, 19-run attack (16 earned) on the Bluejay rookie. If you subtract her UA outing (5 IP, 18 H, 19 R, 16 ER) from her season statistics (5-4, 3.81 ERA), Hovinga's ERA drops dramatically and she moves to 5-3 with a 2.14 ERA, having allowed 54 hits and 17 earned runs in 55.2 innings.

Beating Arizona: For the second straight year, CU went to Arizona and defeated the nationally-ranked Wildcats in March. This time CU crushed Arizona 6-0 on March 7, the first time the powerful UA offense had been shutout at home since UCLA did it in 2005. Tara Oltman scattered five singles to a line up which averaged 17 runs per game in its other five games during the Hillenbrand Invitational. Bailey Dawson and Laura Kratochvil both homered in the win over No. 13 Arizona.

High-Scoring Affair: Creighton blasted Saint Louis 18-5 on Feb. 20 at the Tulsa Select Festival. The 18 runs were the most scored by the Bluejays since setting the school record of 20 runs against the College of Saint Mary's on Feb. 9, 2000. The 18 runs are the second-most scored in a game in CU history and the most ever against a Division I opponent.

Players Mentioned

Lau Emmsley-Chang

Michelle Graner

Michelle Koch

Laura Kratochvil

Liz McKewon

Cassidy Nee

Tara Oltman

Renae Sinkler

Jessica Wakasugi

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