Softball Hosts Iowa State Tuesday Afternoon
3/23/2010 12:00:00 PM | Softball
Creighton hosts Iowa State
Tuesday, March 23 • CU Sports Complex • 3:00 p.m. (DH)
This Week: The Bluejays conclude their opening home stand with a doubleheader against Iowa State on Tuesday afternoon. The Jays and Cyclones start the twin bill at 3 p.m. at the CU Sports Complex.
Last Week: Creighton opened its home season and MVC season with a doubleheader sweep of Indiana State on Sunday. The Bluejays cruised to a 6-0 win in the opener and then had to overcome 3-0 and 5-3 deficits to post a 6-5 win in the night cap. The sweep marked the fourth straight season the Bluejays swept their MVC opening series and the games were also the first time CU opened MVC play at home since 2000. Renae Sinkler was named MVC Player of the Week for the third time this season, going 3-for-4 with two solo home runs and four walks in her eight plate appearances in the twin bill.
Scouting Creighton (14-9, 2-0 MVC): Creighton enters the season looking to make MVC history by becoming the first team to capture four straight MVC regular-season titles ... The Jays are again preseason favorites and are led by three-time MVC Pitcher of the Year and NFCA All-American Tara Oltman and reigning MVC Player of the Year Renae Sinkler ... After an 0-3 start at the Kajikawa Classic, the Jays won nine of their next 10 games, including a 2-1 win over 15th-ranked Northwestern ... CU's team batting average of .214 ranks ninth in the MVC ... The Jays have been hit by 21 pitches this year, to lead the MVC ... Sinkler not only leads the MVC with 13 home runs, but she also has more homers than five other MVC team's totals ... She also tops the MVC in batting average (.424), runs (23), RBI (31), total bases (73), slugging percentage (1.106) and on-base percentage (.530) ... Sinkler's 13 homers have already tied her career-high and are second most in a single-season in CU history, while her 39 career home runs are the school record and tied for second in MVC history ... Michelle Graner walked four times on Sunday to move her career total to 84, just one shy of Abby Johnson's CU record of 85 ... Michelle Koch homered on Sunday, making 11 of her 12 career blasts against MVC teams ... Freshman Amy Baker is second on the team with a .286 average, three home runs and 11 RBI ... Oltman enters today's doubleheader tied with Tammy Nielsen for the CU record with 914 strikeouts (122 shy of the MVC record) ... Oltman, who has 98 career wins, pitched 10 scoreless innings on Sunday and has allowed just one earned run in her last 65.2 innings pitched in league play (0.11 ERA in that span).
Scouting Iowa State (18-12, 0-0 Big 12): The Cyclones are 18-12 on the season, including 11-2 in their last 13 games and enter today's games on a five-game winning streak ... ISU has defeated Drake twice this year and won 2-1 at Southern Illinois last week ... Seven Cyclones are hitting at least .300 on the year, as ISU's team average is .292 ... Heidi Kidwell leads the team with a .376 average, 38 hits and nine stolen bases (on 12 attempts) ... Alex Johnson leads ISU with three home runs, six doubles and 20 RBI, while Sydni Jones and Tori Torrescano also have three home runs ... Rachel Zabriskie is ISU's workhorse in the circle, pitching 117.2 of its 198 innings this year ... The right-hander is 15-6 with a 2.02 ERA, 154 strikeouts and just 18 walks ... She has allowed 18 home runs and 17 doubles this season ... Torrescano (3-3, 3.62 ERA, 58 IP) and Lauren Kennewell (0-3, 5.16 ERA, 20.1 IP) have also seen time in the circle.
Head Coach: Head coach Brent Vigness (Central College, 1988) is in his 17th season at Creighton, owning a record of 530-361-2 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 22 years as a head coach is 678-432-3. He has led the Jays to five MVC Tournament titles (1999, 2003-05, 2007), six regular-season MVC crowns (1998-2000, 2007-09), six NCAA Tournament appearances (1999, 2003-05, 2007-08) and was named MVC Coach of the Year in 1998 and guided the MVC Coaching Staff of the Year in 2007 and 2008.
CU-ISU Series: Creighton leads the all-time series with the Cyclones, 24-16, including a 3-0 mark in the last two seasons ... CU won 3-1 at Iowa State last year, keyed by Tara Oltman's season-high 12 strikeouts and a Michelle Graner home run ... The Jays swept a doubleheader from ISU in Omaha on March 18, 2008, as Oltman picked up a win and a save in the twin bill sweep.
Graner Gets On: Senior Michelle Graner has been hit by six pitches this year to lead the MVC. She has now been beaned 31 times in her career, a school record. In addition to that mark, she has now walked 84 times in her career, including four times in CU's doubleheader with Indiana State on Sunday. She needs just one more free pass to tie current assistant coach Abby Johnson for the CU career mark of 85 walks.
Seniors Set Records: Renae Sinkler homoered in both games on Sunday to claim sole possession of the CU career home run record with 39 – moving out of a tie with former record-holders Stacey Rybar and Lauren Cisneros. Tara Oltman tied Tammy Nielsen's school record with her 914th strikeout on Sunday.
Opening Notes: Creighton opened both its home and MVC schedule last Sunday with a doubleheader sweep of Indiana State. CU had played its first 21 games away from Omaha, including 18 in Arizona. The Jays improved to 5-5 in their last 10 home openers, winning their fifth home opener in their last six tries. The MVC opener marked the first time since 2000 that the Bluejays started conference play at home. The pair of wins gave the Bluejays a sweep of their first MVC opponent in four straight seasons and six of the previous seven.
On Top of The Valley: Three-time MVC Pitcher of the Year Tara Oltman continued her dominance of Valley foes last weekend, tossing 10 scoreless innings against Indiana State. Those scoreless innings continued a stretch of amazing numbers in MVC regular-season play. The All-American has allowed just one earned run in her last 65.2 innings pitched in MVC play for an eye-popping 0.11 ERA in that span. Oltman has gotten better each year in MVC play – 1.00 ERA as a freshman, 0.76 ERA as a sophomore and 0.46 ERA as a junior. The right-hander is now 47-9 with a 0.70 ERA and 22 shutouts during her career in Valley play alone.
Get Em Home: While Creighton scored six runs in each of its first two home games, it also left 10 runners on base in each win, the first time this season it stranded at least 10 on base in back to back games. CU left a season-high 14 runners on base against UMKC on Feb. 27. The Jays were 0-for-6 with the bases loaded on Sunday and are now 2-for-25 (.080) on the year with the bases full. They were just 5-for-26 (.192) with runners in scoring position on Sunday and are now hitting .228 (39-171) with RISP on the season.
Sinkler's Start: To say Renae Sinkler is off to a hot start this season is perhaps not giving her the recognition she deserves. The Bluejay first baseman leads the league in batting (.424), runs (23), home runs (13), RBI (31), total bases (73), slugging (1.106) and on-base percentage (.530). She has homered in back-to-back games five times this season and hasn't gone more than three games without a homer this year. Her 13 blasts are already tied for second in CU single-season history, just three shy of the school record with more than half of the season remaining. She has 31 RBI through 23 games, including 11 multiple-RBI games already. Sinkler is hitting .457 with runners on base and .500 (13-26) with runners in scoring position.
Tara's Records: Tara Oltman has been setting records and climbing charts with almost every appearance in the circle this season. Oltman has set the Missouri Valley Conference record for complete games (105). Early in the season she became the CU record-holder for innings pitched and is just 46.1 innings shy of Darcy Wood's MVC mark. She is now one of three players in league history with at least 900 strikeouts. With 914 Ks, she has tied the CU record held by Tammy Nielsen, and is tied for second in MVC history, closing in on Wood's MVC record 1,036 Ks. Her school-record 38 shutouts are second in MVC history. The All-American is also in the top five in MVC history with 116 starts and 154 appearances in the circle.
Hot or Not: Since 1998, Creighton has either started very well or very poorly early in the MVC season. Listed below are CU's early season MVC records since 1998:
Season MVC Start Final MVC W-L
2010 2-0 ???
2009 6-0 19-6
2008 5-0 21-3
2007 6-0 19-4-1
2006 0-4 10-13
2005 4-0 19-8
2004 3-0 17-8
2003 1-7 14-12
2002 0-4 18-7
2001 0-7 16-10
2000 5-1 11-7
1999 5-0 11-3
1998 9-1 16-2
Baker's Bombs: Freshman Amy Baker has worked her way into the starting lineup, as CU's starting DP in the last 11 games. The rookie ranks second on the team with three home runs, 11 RBI and a .286 average. Two of her home runs came in one game, as the slugger connected for two, two-run home runs to lead the Bluejays past St. John's 4-0 on March 10. Before she cracked the starting lineup, she was 4-of-6 with a home run, double and four RBI as a pinch-hitter.
That Has to Hurt: Senior Michelle Graner has been hit by six pitches this year, which leads the MVC, while CU's 21 hit-batters this year also tops the league. Graner has been hit by a pitch a school-record 31 times in her career. Michelle Koch ranks third in CU history, getting hit by 21 pitches, and Liz McKewon ranks eighth, getting hit by 11 pitches in her career.
Bluejays Can Run Too: Against UMKC (Feb. 27), Creighton had six stolen bases. The six steals were three shy of the school record and rank as the third-highest steals total in game in school history. It was the most stolen bases in a game by the Jays since swiping seven against Bradley on March 31, 2001.
Larson's Picks: Lauren Larson has started every game for CU behind the plate this season. The sophomore backstop has picked off four runners this year after logging no pick offs in her 29 games at catcher last year. In fact, three of her four pick offs came in one game, as she nabbed three runners off first base in a 1-0 win over Samford (March 5).
Reigns at CF and SS End: Four different players have started a game in center field for the Bluejays this season. That is three more than started for the Jays in center from 2006-09. Jessica Wakasugi started 216 straight games for CU in center field over the previous four seasons. Christa Ruf has started 15 games in center this year, Sara Loeffelholz four, Danai Martin three and Emily Perry one.
While Bailey Dawson did miss a few games during her four-year career, she was a four-year starter at shortstop from 2006-09. Three players have also started at short for CU already this season. Liz McKewon has made 10 starts at shortstop, Danie Brinkmann has made eight starts and Jennifer Bohle has started five.
Tuesday, March 23 • CU Sports Complex • 3:00 p.m. (DH)
This Week: The Bluejays conclude their opening home stand with a doubleheader against Iowa State on Tuesday afternoon. The Jays and Cyclones start the twin bill at 3 p.m. at the CU Sports Complex.
Last Week: Creighton opened its home season and MVC season with a doubleheader sweep of Indiana State on Sunday. The Bluejays cruised to a 6-0 win in the opener and then had to overcome 3-0 and 5-3 deficits to post a 6-5 win in the night cap. The sweep marked the fourth straight season the Bluejays swept their MVC opening series and the games were also the first time CU opened MVC play at home since 2000. Renae Sinkler was named MVC Player of the Week for the third time this season, going 3-for-4 with two solo home runs and four walks in her eight plate appearances in the twin bill.
Scouting Creighton (14-9, 2-0 MVC): Creighton enters the season looking to make MVC history by becoming the first team to capture four straight MVC regular-season titles ... The Jays are again preseason favorites and are led by three-time MVC Pitcher of the Year and NFCA All-American Tara Oltman and reigning MVC Player of the Year Renae Sinkler ... After an 0-3 start at the Kajikawa Classic, the Jays won nine of their next 10 games, including a 2-1 win over 15th-ranked Northwestern ... CU's team batting average of .214 ranks ninth in the MVC ... The Jays have been hit by 21 pitches this year, to lead the MVC ... Sinkler not only leads the MVC with 13 home runs, but she also has more homers than five other MVC team's totals ... She also tops the MVC in batting average (.424), runs (23), RBI (31), total bases (73), slugging percentage (1.106) and on-base percentage (.530) ... Sinkler's 13 homers have already tied her career-high and are second most in a single-season in CU history, while her 39 career home runs are the school record and tied for second in MVC history ... Michelle Graner walked four times on Sunday to move her career total to 84, just one shy of Abby Johnson's CU record of 85 ... Michelle Koch homered on Sunday, making 11 of her 12 career blasts against MVC teams ... Freshman Amy Baker is second on the team with a .286 average, three home runs and 11 RBI ... Oltman enters today's doubleheader tied with Tammy Nielsen for the CU record with 914 strikeouts (122 shy of the MVC record) ... Oltman, who has 98 career wins, pitched 10 scoreless innings on Sunday and has allowed just one earned run in her last 65.2 innings pitched in league play (0.11 ERA in that span).
Scouting Iowa State (18-12, 0-0 Big 12): The Cyclones are 18-12 on the season, including 11-2 in their last 13 games and enter today's games on a five-game winning streak ... ISU has defeated Drake twice this year and won 2-1 at Southern Illinois last week ... Seven Cyclones are hitting at least .300 on the year, as ISU's team average is .292 ... Heidi Kidwell leads the team with a .376 average, 38 hits and nine stolen bases (on 12 attempts) ... Alex Johnson leads ISU with three home runs, six doubles and 20 RBI, while Sydni Jones and Tori Torrescano also have three home runs ... Rachel Zabriskie is ISU's workhorse in the circle, pitching 117.2 of its 198 innings this year ... The right-hander is 15-6 with a 2.02 ERA, 154 strikeouts and just 18 walks ... She has allowed 18 home runs and 17 doubles this season ... Torrescano (3-3, 3.62 ERA, 58 IP) and Lauren Kennewell (0-3, 5.16 ERA, 20.1 IP) have also seen time in the circle.
Head Coach: Head coach Brent Vigness (Central College, 1988) is in his 17th season at Creighton, owning a record of 530-361-2 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 22 years as a head coach is 678-432-3. He has led the Jays to five MVC Tournament titles (1999, 2003-05, 2007), six regular-season MVC crowns (1998-2000, 2007-09), six NCAA Tournament appearances (1999, 2003-05, 2007-08) and was named MVC Coach of the Year in 1998 and guided the MVC Coaching Staff of the Year in 2007 and 2008.
CU-ISU Series: Creighton leads the all-time series with the Cyclones, 24-16, including a 3-0 mark in the last two seasons ... CU won 3-1 at Iowa State last year, keyed by Tara Oltman's season-high 12 strikeouts and a Michelle Graner home run ... The Jays swept a doubleheader from ISU in Omaha on March 18, 2008, as Oltman picked up a win and a save in the twin bill sweep.
Graner Gets On: Senior Michelle Graner has been hit by six pitches this year to lead the MVC. She has now been beaned 31 times in her career, a school record. In addition to that mark, she has now walked 84 times in her career, including four times in CU's doubleheader with Indiana State on Sunday. She needs just one more free pass to tie current assistant coach Abby Johnson for the CU career mark of 85 walks.
Seniors Set Records: Renae Sinkler homoered in both games on Sunday to claim sole possession of the CU career home run record with 39 – moving out of a tie with former record-holders Stacey Rybar and Lauren Cisneros. Tara Oltman tied Tammy Nielsen's school record with her 914th strikeout on Sunday.
Opening Notes: Creighton opened both its home and MVC schedule last Sunday with a doubleheader sweep of Indiana State. CU had played its first 21 games away from Omaha, including 18 in Arizona. The Jays improved to 5-5 in their last 10 home openers, winning their fifth home opener in their last six tries. The MVC opener marked the first time since 2000 that the Bluejays started conference play at home. The pair of wins gave the Bluejays a sweep of their first MVC opponent in four straight seasons and six of the previous seven.
On Top of The Valley: Three-time MVC Pitcher of the Year Tara Oltman continued her dominance of Valley foes last weekend, tossing 10 scoreless innings against Indiana State. Those scoreless innings continued a stretch of amazing numbers in MVC regular-season play. The All-American has allowed just one earned run in her last 65.2 innings pitched in MVC play for an eye-popping 0.11 ERA in that span. Oltman has gotten better each year in MVC play – 1.00 ERA as a freshman, 0.76 ERA as a sophomore and 0.46 ERA as a junior. The right-hander is now 47-9 with a 0.70 ERA and 22 shutouts during her career in Valley play alone.
Get Em Home: While Creighton scored six runs in each of its first two home games, it also left 10 runners on base in each win, the first time this season it stranded at least 10 on base in back to back games. CU left a season-high 14 runners on base against UMKC on Feb. 27. The Jays were 0-for-6 with the bases loaded on Sunday and are now 2-for-25 (.080) on the year with the bases full. They were just 5-for-26 (.192) with runners in scoring position on Sunday and are now hitting .228 (39-171) with RISP on the season.
Sinkler's Start: To say Renae Sinkler is off to a hot start this season is perhaps not giving her the recognition she deserves. The Bluejay first baseman leads the league in batting (.424), runs (23), home runs (13), RBI (31), total bases (73), slugging (1.106) and on-base percentage (.530). She has homered in back-to-back games five times this season and hasn't gone more than three games without a homer this year. Her 13 blasts are already tied for second in CU single-season history, just three shy of the school record with more than half of the season remaining. She has 31 RBI through 23 games, including 11 multiple-RBI games already. Sinkler is hitting .457 with runners on base and .500 (13-26) with runners in scoring position.
Tara's Records: Tara Oltman has been setting records and climbing charts with almost every appearance in the circle this season. Oltman has set the Missouri Valley Conference record for complete games (105). Early in the season she became the CU record-holder for innings pitched and is just 46.1 innings shy of Darcy Wood's MVC mark. She is now one of three players in league history with at least 900 strikeouts. With 914 Ks, she has tied the CU record held by Tammy Nielsen, and is tied for second in MVC history, closing in on Wood's MVC record 1,036 Ks. Her school-record 38 shutouts are second in MVC history. The All-American is also in the top five in MVC history with 116 starts and 154 appearances in the circle.
Hot or Not: Since 1998, Creighton has either started very well or very poorly early in the MVC season. Listed below are CU's early season MVC records since 1998:
Season MVC Start Final MVC W-L
2010 2-0 ???
2009 6-0 19-6
2008 5-0 21-3
2007 6-0 19-4-1
2006 0-4 10-13
2005 4-0 19-8
2004 3-0 17-8
2003 1-7 14-12
2002 0-4 18-7
2001 0-7 16-10
2000 5-1 11-7
1999 5-0 11-3
1998 9-1 16-2
Baker's Bombs: Freshman Amy Baker has worked her way into the starting lineup, as CU's starting DP in the last 11 games. The rookie ranks second on the team with three home runs, 11 RBI and a .286 average. Two of her home runs came in one game, as the slugger connected for two, two-run home runs to lead the Bluejays past St. John's 4-0 on March 10. Before she cracked the starting lineup, she was 4-of-6 with a home run, double and four RBI as a pinch-hitter.
That Has to Hurt: Senior Michelle Graner has been hit by six pitches this year, which leads the MVC, while CU's 21 hit-batters this year also tops the league. Graner has been hit by a pitch a school-record 31 times in her career. Michelle Koch ranks third in CU history, getting hit by 21 pitches, and Liz McKewon ranks eighth, getting hit by 11 pitches in her career.
Bluejays Can Run Too: Against UMKC (Feb. 27), Creighton had six stolen bases. The six steals were three shy of the school record and rank as the third-highest steals total in game in school history. It was the most stolen bases in a game by the Jays since swiping seven against Bradley on March 31, 2001.
Larson's Picks: Lauren Larson has started every game for CU behind the plate this season. The sophomore backstop has picked off four runners this year after logging no pick offs in her 29 games at catcher last year. In fact, three of her four pick offs came in one game, as she nabbed three runners off first base in a 1-0 win over Samford (March 5).
Reigns at CF and SS End: Four different players have started a game in center field for the Bluejays this season. That is three more than started for the Jays in center from 2006-09. Jessica Wakasugi started 216 straight games for CU in center field over the previous four seasons. Christa Ruf has started 15 games in center this year, Sara Loeffelholz four, Danai Martin three and Emily Perry one.
While Bailey Dawson did miss a few games during her four-year career, she was a four-year starter at shortstop from 2006-09. Three players have also started at short for CU already this season. Liz McKewon has made 10 starts at shortstop, Danie Brinkmann has made eight starts and Jennifer Bohle has started five.
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IF
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C
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IF
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P
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OF
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UT
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