Hovinga, Oltman Combine to Blank UNI, 1-0

DES MOINES, Iowa - Freshman Kylie Hovinga and junior Tara Oltman combined to throw a five-hit shutout as the Creighton softball team topped Northern Iowa 1-0 Tuesday afternoon at Drake's Buel Field. The shutout followed a 5-1 defeat of the Panthers, as the first-place Bluejays swept the top-hitting team in the Missouri Valley Conference in the make-up doubleheader.

Renae Sinkler's solo home run in the top of the sixth inning provided the only run of the game. Her one-out blast sailed deep over the center field fence for her team-leading sixth home run of the year.

Hovinga started and took a no-decision, pitching three shutout innings. She allowed three singled, did not walk a batter and struck out one in her second straight combined shutout with Oltman.

Oltman relieved the freshman left-hander in the fourth inning and allowed just two hits, both in the fifth inning. She struck out four and did not walk a batter, picking up her second victory of the day to move to 17-6 on the year.

UNI (24-13, 8-5 MVC) entered the doubleheader ranked first in the MVC in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs, hits, triples, home runs and total bases and ranked second in doubles. The Panthers managed just eight singles and one run combined in the doubleheader.

Melissa Tillett (4-6) took the loss for UNI. The left-hander allowed five hits and just one run, while striking out five.

Creighton, now 21-9 overall and 9-1 in Valley play, returns to the road when it plays a three-game MVC series this weekend at Indiana State. The Bluejays and Sycamores will play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. (CST) on Friday and one game at 11 a.m. (CST) on Saturday.

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Players Mentioned

Kylie Hovinga

Tara Oltman

Renae Sinkler