Softball Visits Wichita State For Three-Game Series

Creighton visits Wichita State For Rare Friday/Saturday Series
    Friday, April 6 • C. Howard Wilkins Softball Complex • Wichita, Kan. • 12 pm (DH)
    Saturday, April 7 • C. Howard Wilkins Softball Complex • Wichita, Kan. • 12 pm

This Week: Creighton looks to extend its four-game winning streak in MVC play when it travels to Wichita, Kan., to take on Wichita State this week. The Bluejays, who will be playing on the road for the eighth time in nine weekends, will be home three of the final four MVC weekends after getting through this trip. Due to the Easter weekend, the teams will play a rare Friday doubleheader before closing out the series on Saturday.

In The Last Week: Creighton swept a weekend series with Indiana State, winning 9-0, 12-4 and 4-0. On Tuesday, Creighton's bats went cold at South Dakota State, falling 1-0 in eight innings before a 1-1 tie called after nine innings due to darkness. On Wednesday, Creighton fell to Iowa State, 6-3.

Scouting Creighton (17-15-1, 6-3 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 eight times this year and its 5.9 runs per game is its highest scoring average in 34 years ... CU leads the MVC with 27 homers and 195 runs and ranks second in the MVC with a .302 average, 267 hits, 8 triples and 124 walks ... The Jays rank in the NCAA top-25 in scoring, batting average and slugging percentage ... Junior Amy Baker leads the MVC with 39 RBI, is tied for second with six homers, and is eighth in batting average (.366). She ranks second in CU history with 39 career home runs and is fifth with 118 RBI ... Freshman Allie Mathewson is seventh in the MVC with a .369 batting average. She ranks second in the league in hits (41) and runs (30), and leads the team in stolen bases (11) ... Sophomore Ellen Homan is batting .349 this year (12th in the MVC) and her career average of .324 ranks eighth in school history ... Freshman Bri Lingl is hitting .538 in MVC play and ranks in the top-three in the MVC in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, hits, RBI, total bases and sacrifice flies in league contests ... Senior Christa Ruf is hitting .452 (14-31) in her last 12 games ... Newcomer Alexis Cantu (.301) is second in the MVC with six home runs and ranks third nationally in the NCAA with 0.97 walks per game as a hitter ...Sophomore right-hander Becca Changstrom is 9-8 and leads the team with a 2.83 ERA, 94.0 innings pitched and 94 strikeouts. However, Changstrom is 4-1 with a 0.22 ERA in her last five outings, spanning 31.1 innings. She's struck out 37 and allowed just 18 hits in that time.

Scouting Wichita State (7-26, 0-9 MVC): Wichita State enters the weekend on a six-game losing streak, and 1-19 since a 6-7 start ... All seven victories for the Shockers have come against teams that currently own a losing record. WSU did beat South Dakota State on Feb. 17, a team that just went 1-0-1 against Creighton on Tuesday ... WSU is 0-8 at home this season ... Freshman Sydney Stuever leads the Shocker regulars with a .305 batting average and seven stolen bases, while Erin Carney tops the team with seven home runs, 18 runs and 16 RBI ...In the circle, Sloan Anderson leads the team with 97.2 innings of work and a 5.30 ERA, but is just 3-17. She's allowed 29 homers while striking out 40. WSU is led by Kristi Bredbenner, in her first year as head coach after a successful stint at Emporia State.

Head Coach: Head coach Brent Vigness (Central College, 1988) is in his 19th season at Creighton. With a record of 595-418-3 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 743-489-3. 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-WSU Series: Creighton leads the series with Wichita State, 44-27. The Shockers swept CU last season in Omaha (3-2, 6-5 in 8 innings, 14-1) before the Jays got revenge and eliminated Wichita State from the MVC Tournament with an 8-1 victory in Springfield.
    Creighton swept the Shockers in 2010 in its last trip to Wichita, winning by scores of 5-1, 8-6 and 12-0.

Happy Homecoming: Creighton played its first 25 games on the road this year before opening its home schedule with a doubleheader sweep of South Dakota State on March 28th.
    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.

Becca's Back: When Creighton was swept during the regular-season by Wichita State last season, it was without the services of injured staff ace Becca Changstrom. Changstrom would recover and face the Shockers in the Valley Tournament, where she threw a complete-game one-hitter and also drove in a pair of runs in an 8-1 Bluejay win.

Changstrom, Continued: Sophomore pitcher Becca Changstrom has regained the form she displayed as a freshman, when she was a second-team all-MVC selection. In her last five appearances, Changstrom has allowed just one earned run in 31.1 innings of work, good for a 0.22 ERA. She's 4-1 in those appearances, striking out 37 and allowing just 18 hits.

Baker's Steaks: Junior Amy Baker owns 39 RBI so far this season. If she gets to 40 RBI, she'll become just the third player in Creighton history with multiple seasons of 40 or more RBI. The only others in that elite category are two of her assistant coaches, Abby Johnson and Renae Sinkler.

Baker's Climb: Junior Amy Baker leads the MVC with 39 RBI in just 33 games this spring (after leading the team with 33 RBI in 53 games last year). Baker now has 118 RBI to rank fifth in school history on the career RBI list. With six home runs this year, she now has 39 homers in her career, trailing only current volunteer assistant coach Renae Sinkler's school record 50 home runs.
    Baker can move into a tie for 20th in MVC history with three more RBI, and is within reach to set the MVC career record of 157 RBI, currently held by Illinois State's Heather Stella (1996-99).

Offensive Explosion: Creighton is 6-2-1 in its last nine games thanks to a balanced offensive effort. Sophomore Amy Baker has hit .478 with three homers and 11 RBI in that team, but is one of seven women with a homer in those nine games. Creighton has also stolen 10-of-11 bases successfully in those games.

High in the Valley: Creighton is 6-3 through nine MVC games this spring, as the Bluejays are hitting .339 and have scored 61 runs in their first nine Valley games. That's the most Creighton has ever scored in its first nine league games. By comparison, Creighton scored 77 runs in 24 conference games last year.
• Creighton is slugging at a .525 rate and owns an on-base percentage of .412 in Valley play. The Jays own the same number of walks (31) as they do strikeouts (31), and six different women have homered at least once in CU's first nine Valley games.
• Three newcomers have helped the Jays lead the way in league play. Freshmen Bri Lingl and Liz Dike have reached base safely in all nine games, while sophomore transfer Alexis Cantu has reached in CU's past eight Valley contests.
• 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 nine MVC games, she is already 10-for-24 (.417) average with three doubles and a grand slam.

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.

Cheaper By The Dozen: Creighton has twice scored 10 or more runs in an inning this season, including a high of 12 runs in the third inning on March 31st vs. Indiana State. The 12-run inning is tied for 19th in NCAA history for runs scored in an inning. Creighton's 17-run inning vs. College of Saint Mary's (Neb.) on Feb. 9, 2000, is the school record, and was also done in the third inning.

In A Pinch: Sophomore Brittnie Kreiser has developed into one of the most dangerous pinch-hitters in the country of late. She's been called on to pinch-hit 15 times this year, and has reached base safely seven times. Kreiser owns 10 RBI as a pinch-hitter this year.
    Kreiser owns an RBI in five of her last seven pinch-hit appearances, going 4-for-6 with a sacrifice fly and eight RBI off the bench.
    By comparison, Creighton owned 11 pinch-hit RBI as a team last year, including two from Kreiser.

Offensive Bounce Back: The Bluejays are hitting .302 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 195 runs in 33 games, an average of 5.9 runs per game (third-highest average in school history). CU's slugging percentage of .458 is up 90 points from last year's .368. Creighton's on-base percentage of .394 currently ranks as second-best in school history, trailing only the 1990's team-record .398 on-base percentage.

Homan's Hitting: Sophomore Ellen Homan is batting .349 this spring, after leading the team with a .308 average as a freshman. Homan is hitting .324 in her career (90-278) which ranks eighth in school history.

Walk this Way: Sophomore Alexis Cantu not only ranks second in the MVC with six home runs, but she also leads the MVC and ranks third in the NCAA with 32 walks this season. Cantu has walked (32) more this year than she has struck out (23) and is eight free passes shy of tying Michelle Graner's single-season walks record, set in 2010.
• Junior Amy Baker ranks second on the team with 22 walks, compared to only 13 strikeouts. Baker, a junior, has already walked 65 times in her career, tied for seventh in CU history.

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 41 doubles in 33 games to rank 39th 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 eight 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.

No Tying in Softball?: Creighton played to just the third tie in program history when its April 3rd game at South Dakota State was halted after nine innings due to darkness with the score knotted at 1-1. Creighton's previous ties came in 2004 at Kansas (darkness) and in 2007 vs. Illinois State (rain after five innings). Creighton would go on to win the MVC Tournament in both 2004 and 2007.

Softball Visits Wichita State For Three-Game Series

Players Mentioned

Christa Ruf

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