Softball Looks to Stay Hot When Hosting Sycamores This Weekend
3/30/2012 3:59:00 PM | Softball
Creighton hosts Indiana State in First Home MVC Games
Saturday, March 31 • CU Sports Complex • Omaha, Neb. • 12 pm (DH)
Sunday, April 1 • CU Sports Complex • Omaha, Neb. • 12 pm
This Week: After playing its first 25 games away from home Creighton opened its home schedule with a bang in a Wednesday doubleheader sweep of South Dakota, topping the Coyotes 4-1 and 15-1, combining for 19 runs on 22 hits, including five home runs. The Bluejays now welcome Indiana State to town for a three-game MVC series starting Saturday at noon and concluding on Sunday at noon.
Last Week: Creighton had its scheduled home-opening doubleheader against Iowa State rained out last Wednesday. The Bluejays then traveled to Southern Illinois, where the Salukis posted a pair of come-from-behind wins to sweep Saturday's doubleheader 10-4 and 17-8. The Jays bounced back from a 5-0 deficit on Sunday to avoid the series sweep and beat SIU 7-6 in the series finale. Freshman Bri Lingl went 6-for-10 with a home run, two doubles and six RBI in the three-game set at SIU.
Scouting Creighton (14-13, 3-3 MVC): Creighton jumped out to the second-best start in school history this spring, winning its first seven games before playing five games against ranked opponents in an eight-game span ... The Bluejay offense has scored at least 10 runs in a game seven times this year and its 6.1 runs per game is its highest scoring average in 34 years ... CU ranks second in the MVC with a .309 average, 224 hits, 39 doubles, 8 triples, 24 home runs, 166 runs scored and 98 walks ... The Jays rank in the NCAA top-25 in scoring, doubles and triples ... CU is hitting .374 and averaging better than seven runs on 10 hits per game in its last six contests ... Junior Amy Baker (.346) leads the MVC with 33 RBI and tops the team with six doubles ... Baker ranks second in CU history with 38 career home runs and sixth with 112 RBI ... Freshman Allie Mathewson is hitting .577 (15-26) during an eight-game hitting streak to raise her batting average to .415 on the spring, she ranks second in the league in average and hits (39), and leads the team in runs (26) and stolen bases (7) ... Sophomore Ellen Homan is batting .382 this year and her career average of .333 ranks fifth in school history ... Freshman Bri Lingl is hitting .381 on the year, including .556 in MVC play, she leads the team with a .667 slugging percentage ... Senior Christa Ruf is hitting .600 (9-15) in her last six games ... Newcomer Alexis Cantu (.288) is tied for the MVC lead with six home runs and ranks seventh in the NCAA with 26 walks ...Sophomore right-hander Becca Changstrom is 7-7 and leads the team with a 3.56 ERA, 74.2 innings pitched and 74 strikeouts ...Creighton's team ERA of 4.44 is its highest in program history.
Scouting Indiana State (12-15, 0-6 MVC): The Sycamores snapped an 11-game losing streak at IUPUI on Thursday, following an 11-4 start under first-year head coach Shane Bouman ... ISU is 0-6 in MVC play, playing all six games at home, but against the only two remaining unbeaten teams in the Valley (UNI, Drake) ...ISU's 45 sac bunts lead the MVC and are 17 more than Creighton's second-place total of 28 ... ISU ranks ninth in the MVC in doubles and home runs and is seventh in runs scored ... The Sycamores lead the MVC with 66 errors and are last in the league with a .925 fielding percentage ... Megan Stone (.364) leads ISU with 28 hits, 12 stolen bases and 19 runs scored ... Opponents are batting just .226 against ISU pitching, while the Sycamores rank third in the MVC with a 2.50 ERA ... Left-hander Lindsey Beisser is third in the MVC with a 1.70 ERA and ranks fourth with 99 strikeouts.
Head Coach: Head coach Brent Vigness (Central College, 1988) is in his 19th season at Creighton. With a record of 592-416-2 at Creighton, he is the winningest coach in Bluejay athletics history. Vigness also served as head coach at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., for five years prior to coming to Creighton. His career record in 24 years as a head coach is 740-487-3. The most tenured softball coach in school history has led the Jays to six MVC Tournament titles (1999, 2003-05, 2007, 2010), six regular-season MVC crowns (1998-2000, 2007-09), seven NCAA Tournament appearances (1999, 2003-05, 2007-08, 2010) and was named MVC Coach of the Year in 1998 and guided the MVC Coaching Staffs of the Year in 2007 and 2008.
CU-ISU Series: Creighton is 43-8 all-time against Indiana State, including 18-2 in Omaha. The Bluejays have won five of the last six meetings and 10 of the last 13 meetings between the programs. The Jays have won five straight meetings against ISU in Omaha after the Sycamores won 7-1 on April 9, 2006. ISU won two of three game in that series in 2006, the only two games the Sycamores have ever won in Omaha.
Happy Homecoming: Creighton played its first 25 games on the road this year before opening its home schedule with a doubleheader sweep of Indiana State on Wednesday. The Jays won 4-1 and 15-1, with the 15-run outburst serving as the highest scoring home game for the Bluejays since opening the 2000 season by scoring a school-record 20 runs against College of Saint Mary (Neb.). It was the third straight season CU swept its home-opening doubleheader.
Offensive Explosion: Creighton is hitting .374 as a team in its last six games, during which time it has hit 10 home runs and scored 42 runs on 61 hits. CU's slugging percentage is .638 and its on-base percentage is .450 over its last six games. Bluejay hitters have walked 21 times and struck out just 16 times in those six games. Allie Mathewson (12-20) and Christa Ruf (9-15) are both hitting .600 over the last six games, while Bri Lingl is hitting .471 with a home run and nine RBI over her previous six outings.
High in the Valley: Creighton is 3-3 through six MVC games this spring, but the Bluejays are hitting .316 and have scored 36 runs in their first six Valley games. Only once have the Jays scored more than 36 runs through six conference games – the 1995 team scored 37 runs in its first six MVC games. Creighton scored 77 runs in 24 conference games last year.
• Freshman Bri Lingl either loves playing in her home state of Illinois or loves MVC pitching, as she is Creighton's leading hitter in Valley play after road weekends at Bradley and Southern Illinois. Lingl is hitting a team-best .556 (10-18) with two home runs and team-leading 10 RBI through six MVC games.
• Freshman Allie Mathewson has also enjoyed MVC pitching, batting .500 (10-20) with a team-high six runs scored through six MVC games.
• Senior Christa Ruf entered MVC play with a batting average of .195, as she was 8-for-41 with no doubles in 19 non-conference games. In six MVC games, she is already 7-for-16 (.438) average and three doubles.
Cantu Crushes Record: Sophomore Alexis Cantu hit a tape-measure shot home run against South Dakota (March 28) for her league-leading sixth home run of the year. In crushing the towering deep fly, she set a Creighton record for home runs hit by a left-handed batter in a single-season, topping the five hit by Jessica German in 2007.
Hitting Streaks: Freshman Allie Mathewson enters the weekend on an eight-game hitting streak, the longest by a Bluejay in two years. During that eight-game span the rookie is batting .577 (15-26) with 10 runs scored, three doubles, a home run and five RBI. Sophomore Ellen Homan has hit safely in six straight games, batting .429 (9-21) with five RBI and six runs scored.
Offensive Bounce Back: The Bluejays are hitting .309 as a team, a mark that would rank third in school history if the season ended today, and is the highest mark by a Creighton team since the 1993 team hit .315. CU scored 184 runs in 53 games in 2011, an average of 3.5 per game. This year the Bluejays have already scored 166 runs in 27 games, an average of 6.1 runs per game (second-highest average in school history). CU's slugging percentage of .483 is up 115 points from last year's .368. Creighton's on-base percentage of .397 currently ranks as second-best in school history, trailing only the 1990's team-record .398 on-base percentage.
Baker's Climb: Junior Amy Baker leads the MVC with 33 RBI in just 27 games this spring (after leading the team with 33 RBI in 53 games last year). Baker now has 112 RBI to rank sixth in school history on the RBI list. With five home runs this year, she now has 38 homers in her career, trailing only current volunteer assistant coach Renae Sinkler's school record 50 home runs.
Homan's Hitting: Sophomore Ellen Homan is batting .382 this spring, after leading the team with a .308 average as a freshman. Homan is hitting .333 in her career (86-258) which now qualifies her for the Creighton career top-10. Her current career mark of .333 ranks fifth in school history.
Walk this Way: Sophomore Alexis Cantu not only leads the MVC with six home runs, but she also leads the MVC and ranks seventh in the NCAA with 26 walks this season. Cantu has walked (26) more this year than she has struck out (19) and needs just one more free pass to already crack the CU single-season top-10.
• Junior Amy Baker ranks second on the team with 17 walks, compared to only 11 strikeouts. Baker, a junior, has already walked 60 times in her career, just two shy of the Creighton career top-ten.
Doubling Up: Last year Creighton managed to hit only 25 doubles in 53 games, its lowest total since 1992. This season the Bluejays have already smacked 39 doubles in 27 games to rank 22nd in the NCAA in doubles per game. Junior Amy Baker leads the team with six two-baggers after she hit just one double as a sophomore – in the 52nd of 53 games.
Tripling Up: Not only are doubles up for Creighton this year, but triples are also up. The Bluejays have eight triples this year, more than in any of its previous three full seasons. Senior outfielder Christa Ruf and freshman shortstop Liz Dike each have two triples to lead the Bluejays this year.
Hot Start: Creighton jumped out to a 7-0 start this season for its best start to a season since 1987. The 1987 team opened the year with 10 straight wins to set a school record, while the seven straight wins to open the year marked the best start to a season under head coach Brent Vigness. The Bluejays opened the year with an 18-0 win at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, setting the school record for the largest margin of victory in a game.
Surpassing 10: Creighton has scored at least 10 runs in a game seven times already this season. The 2011 team scored 10 runs in a game just once and the Bluejays have already scored 10 or more runs in a game more this season than in the previous three seasons combined.
Record-Tying Game: In one of Creighton's high-scoring games this season, the Bluejays tied a school record. The Jays topped Howard 19-4 on March 4 in Tempe, Ariz., tying the school record with 22 hits in the lopsided win. The 19 runs rank second in school history, just one shy of the 20 runs scored against the College of Saint Mary (Neb.) on Feb. 9, 2000.
Leftovers: Creighton is hitting .500 (16-32) with the bases loaded this year and .348 with runners in scoring position ... The Jays are hitting .344 (32-93) against left-handed pitchers this year, Indiana State's staff ace is a lefty.
