Softball Drops 3-1 Decision to Nebraska

OMAHA, Neb. - Nebraska scored all three of its runs with two outs, and a potential walk-off blast by Creighton senior and Lincoln native Bailey Dawson was caught at the wall to end the game, as the visiting Cornhuskers topped Creighton, 3-1, on Tuesday night before an overflow crowd of 705 fans at the CU Sports Complex.

Nebraska improves to 33-15 on the year while evening the season series with Creighton, which fell to 31-14.

Husker senior Molly Hill struck out nine batters to improve to 23-11 on the year. The win was the 73rd of Hill's career, tying her for fourth in school history with current Husker associate head coach Lori Sippel (1985-88). Hill allowed six hits, one unearned run, and walked two.

Nebraska second baseman Julie Brechtel opened the scoring with two outs in the top of the second inning with her fifth home run of the season. The homer snapped Bluejay starter Tara Oltman's streak of 26.1 innings without allowing an earned run and just barely cleared the five-foot fence in left field.

The Jays were in prime position to tie the game in the bottom of the second, placing runners at second and third with one out, but Jessica Wakasugi popped out to third base for the second out. After Jessi Jadlowski was hit by a pitch, Liz McKewon struck out to leave the bases full.

Nebraska added a pair of runs in the top of the third on Crystal Carwile's two-out, two-run single up the middle, plating Whitney Barrett and Amanda Duran. A diving catch by Michelle Koch on a blooper by Kelli Linke helped CU escape further damage in the third.

Wakasugi reached on an error to open the seventh inning and would advance to third on a pair of groundouts. She waltzed home on a single to left by Koch. Valley Player of the Year candidate Renae Sinkler then dropped a single into right-field. Koch slid around a tag at third, with Sinkler moving to second on the throw to put the tying run in scoring position for CU's clean-up hitter. Dawson, a Lincoln native, skied a deep fly ball to the left field wall where it was hauled in by Darcy Rutherford, mere feet from a dramatic three-run walk-off homer.

Creighton's six hits included ground-rule doubles by Lauren Larson and Sinkler, two singles by Koch and singles from Graner and Sinkler.

Oltman (25-10) allowed six hits, three runs and two walks while throwing her 30th complete game in 31 starts this season. She struck out four batters and walked two.

Creighton returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to Ames, Iowa, to play a 3 p.m. doubleheader at Iowa State. The Cornhuskers travel to Columbia, Mo., to take on No. 14 Missouri to close the regular-season this weekend.

NOTES: Larson extended her hitting streak to five game with her ground-rule double in the second inning ...Creighton won the first meeting against Nebraska this season, 3-0 in Lincoln on April 1 ... Attendance was 705, more than double the previous season-best for Creighton ... Oltman had allowed one earned run or less in 28 of her last 29 appearances before tonight and entered the game ranked fourth nationally with a 0.83 ERA ... Creighton had won four straight games against Nebraska (its longest winning streak ever over the Huskers) and had been 7-3 in the last 10 meetings since losing 15 straight in the series ... Oltman has allowed more hits than innings pitched in just one of her last 69 appearances ... Creighton is 20-0 when scoring at least four runs this season, but 11-14 when scoring three runs or fewer ... Creighton had outscored NU 23-3 in the previous three meetings.

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Players Mentioned

Jessi Jadlowski

Michelle Koch

Lauren Larson

Liz McKewon

Tara Oltman

Renae Sinkler

Jessica Wakasugi