Softball Opens Busy Week With Contests Against Drake, Iowa State

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Game #35 • April 12 • Creighton at Drake • 4:00 PM • Des Moines, Iowa • Buel Field
Game #36 • April 13 • Iowa State at Creighton • 4:00 PM • Omaha, Neb. • CU Sports Complex

Up Next
Creighton steps out of BIG EAST play for a pair of games in the middle of the week.
   On Tuesday, April 12th, Creighton (22-12, 6-1 BIG EAST) visits Drake (23-12, 11-0 Missouri Valley) for a 4 pm game at Buel Field in Des Moines, Iowa.
   Creighton then returns home on Wednesday, April 13, to host Iowa State (15-21, 0-5 Big 12). That game will also start at 4 pm and be played at the CU Sports Complex in Omaha, Neb.

Follow the Action
Live stats for both games this midweek can be found via links on GoCreighton.com, or at Creighton.StatBroadcast.com.
   Scoring updates and infographics will be provided via Twitter at @BluejaySoftball.
   Both games this midweek will have free live video. Tuesday's game at Drake will be video webcast at GoDrakeBulldogs.com/Watch. Wednesday's home game vs. Iowa State can be found at GoCreighton.com/Watch.

Scouting Creighton
Creighton Softball has won 17 of its last 21 games to improve to 22-12 on the season. The Bluejays are also 6-1 in BIG EAST play, good for second place, and have won four straight contests.
   Creighton's hottest pitcher of late has been Micaela Whitney (6-4, 2.62 ERA). Whitney has won each of her last four starts, and her last six decisions overall. Sydnee Eck has been named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week three times this season and leads the pitching staff with a 12-6 record. She's allowed just 105 hits and 23 walks in 106.1 innings of work, and owns a league-high 145 strikeouts on the spring.
   Tash Coffiel is hitting a team-best .386 this season, and also tops the club with a .511 on-base percentage. Allie Reinhart leads the club in doubles (6) while ranking second on the team in batting average (.365) and RBI (23). Providing much of the power in the middle of the line-up has been junior Jen Daro, who hits .333 and has 35 RBI. She leads the BIG EAST with eight home runs. Creighton's hottest hitter last weekend was Michelle Trulin (.310), who reached base eight of 10 plate appearances last weekend, including three extra-base hits.

Scouting Drake
Drake is 23-12 this season and stands in first place in the Missouri Valley Conference with an 11-0 league record. The Bulldogs have won 11 of their last 12 games.
   Kennedy Frank leads the Bulldogs in batting average (.362), hits (42), home runs (8) and stolen bases (14), just ahead of Taryn Pena (.340, 25 walks) and Ashlie Chambers (.340). Kailee Smith (.321, 5 HR, 22 RBI), Megan Sowa (.315, 5 HR, 31 RBI) and Tasha Alexander (.255, 5 HR, 22 RBI) give the Bulldogs a dangerous trio who can hit the long ball.
   Nicole Newman (16-6, 2.34 ERA, 134.2 IP, 169 SO) has been the top pitcher for DU this season, while Mariah McKinnon (5-5, 5.92 ERA in 65.0 IP) also lends a hand.

Series History vs. Drake
Series: Creighton leads, 57-31. The 57 victories over Drake are more than any other foe.
Last Year's Meetings: Drake swept a doubleheader in Omaha, winning by scores of 1-0 and 5-1.
   In game one, Nicole Newman threw a two-hit shutout and struck out 17 Bluejays, while Rebekah Schmidt homered in the top of the seventh for the game's only run.
   The second game was also tied heading to the seventh before Drake scored four unearned runs in the top of the inning. Keying that outburst was a three-run home run by Hayley Nybo. Kelsey Allender was 2-for-4 at the dish for CU, while Micaela Whitney was tagged with the loss.

Scouting Iowa State
Iowa State is 15-21 on the season, including an 0-5 Big 12 record. The Cyclones are mired in a seven-game losing streak that is the program's longest skid since 2013.
   The Cyclones are paced on offense by Brittany Gomez (.394, 20 SB), Cathlin Bingham (.345, 19 BB) and Aly Cappaert (.340, 8 HR, 27 RBI), while Emma Hylen (7-9, 3.83 ERA in 80.1 IP) and Savannah Sanders (6-9, 4.31 ERA, 100.2 IP) handle much of the workload in the circle.

Series History vs. Iowa State
Series: Creighton is 25-21 all-time against Iowa State, though the teams have not met since the Cyclones won 6-3 in Omaha on April 4, 2012.
Last Meeting: Iowa State defeated the Bluejays, 6-3, on April 4, 2012 at the CU Sports Complex. The Cyclones raced to a 6-0 lead after five innings before CU's comeback ran out of time. Taylor Smith got the win for ISU, while Madison Jones notched the last four outs to earn the save. Tori Torrescano went 2-for-3 with a pair of home runs and five RBI to lead the visitors, while CU was paced by Amy Baker's 2-for-4 showing with a home run.

Strong Start, Part I
Creighton is off to a strong start this season with a 22-12 record after last weekend's sweep of Georgetown.
   By comparison, Creighton won 22 games all of last season, when it finished 22-21.
   This is the 20th straight year that Creighton has won 22 games or more, all under the direction of Brent Vigness. The only BIG EAST school with a longer active streak is DePaul, which has 31 straight seasons of 22+ wins entering this spring, and 16 victories currently.

Strong Start, Part II
Creighton is off to a 6-1 start in BIG EAST play, good enough to place the Bluejays in second place.
   This is the program's best start in league action since beginning 11-1 in 2009 in the Missouri Valley Conference. That team went on to win the MVC regular-season title.
   In fact, this is the sixth time that Creighton has started 6-1 or better in league play. Four of the first five teams to do so won the regular-season title, and the team that didn't won the conference tournament.
Year   Start   League, Finish   League Tourney Title?
1998   9-1   1st, MVC   No
2005   17-1   3rd, MVC   Yes
2007   9-1   1st, MVC   Yes
2008   6-1   1st, MVC   No
2009   11-1   1st, MVC   No
2016   6-1   ???, BIG EAST   ???

Trulin Goes Yard, At Last
Michelle Trulin's first at bat last weekend vs. Georgetown was a memorable one, as the senior pulled a 1-2 pitch over the wall in right field to give Creighton a 3-0 lead.
   Not only was in Trulin's first home run this season, but her first roundtripper as a collegian. Trulin's homer came in her 186th game at the college level (including 111 games at Iowa Western CC), and in her 649th career plate appearance.
   Trulin entered the weekend with one extra-base hit in her first 189 at bats as a Bluejay, then had an extra-base knock in all three games last weekend vs. Georgetown. Besides her home run in the series opener, she also delivered doubles in game two and game three.

Reinhart Discovers Long Ball, Too.
Allie Reinhart entered last weekend with one home run all season before hitting homers in each of the first two games of the series vs. Georgetown.
   Reinhart had five home runs in her first three seasons on campus before rediscovering the long ball last weekend.
   All seven of Reinhart's career home runs have come against BIG EAST competition.
   Reinhart is the second Bluejay this season to homer in consecutive games. Jen Daro homered in Creighton's eighth (Campbell) and ninth (Western Michigan) games, then did it again in game 27 (Providence) and game 28 (South Dakota State).

Back-To-Back
Allie Reinhart and Jen Daro hit back-to-back home runs in the second inning vs. Georgetown on April 9th, with both women homering on a 2-1 pitch against Delaney Osterday.
   It's the first time Creighton has hit back-to-back home runs since Liz Dike and Blake Ringle homered consecutively in the third inning vs. Butler on March 22, 2015.

No-Hitter For Whitney
Micaela Whitney threw the second complete game no-hitter of her Bluejay career on April 2 at Seton Hall. She struck out 11 and did not allow a walk in her gem. Just two Pirate runners reached base, one on hit-by-pitch in the second inning and another on a third inning error.
   Whitney needed just 72 pitches to complete her no-hitter, throwing 57 strikes.

List of No-Hitters Under Vigness
Micaela Whitney is the 12th different pitcher to throw a complete game no-hitter during Brent Vigness' 23 years at Creighton, but just the second to throw more than one. There have been 22 no-hitters overall under Vigness' watch.
   Tammy Nielsen had eight no-no's (two in 2003, five in 2004, one in 2005), while Whitney threw one on Feb. 5, 2015 vs. Pacific in her Bluejay debut.
   Ten other Bluejay pitchers have thrown a complete game no-hitter in that time, while current assistant coach Alexis Cantu was part of a combined no-hitter vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff on February 12, 2012.
   A complete list of no-hitters under Vigness can be found at the bottom of page four of these notes.

White Hot Whitney
Micaela Whitney is in the middle of a great stretch, allowing just four runs in her last four starts to lower her ERA to a team-best 2.62. That figure ranks second in the BIG EAST.
   The Omaha native has allowed just 13 hits in 26 innings over the past two weeks while striking out 30, and she's thrown shutouts in three of her last six starts.
   During her last nine outings, Whitney is 6-0 with a 1.54 ERA in 45.1 innings of work. In that time she's struck out 58 and allowed just 29 hits and 19 walks.

True Blue Trulin
Michelle Trulin has reached base in each of the last 15 games, batting .400 with 16 hits and 10 walks in that span.
   Trulin has also scored 18 times in those games, during which time Creighton is 12-3.
   The streak of 15 straight games reaching base is the longest mark of Trulin's Creighton career.   Creighton's last player to reach in 15 or more straight games was Kelsey Allender, who reached in 20 straight contests from Feb. 5-March 22, 2015.
   Trulin's seven-game hitting streak, during which time she's hitting .529 (9-17) with eight walks, is also a career-long.

Offensive Showcase
Creighton is 5-0 in BIG EAST home games this season, dominating games vs. Providence and Georgetown.
   Creighton scored 26 runs in three games vs. the Hoyas and 25 games in two contests against the Friars. Those rank as the top two scoring series against league competition since joining the BIG EAST.
   In five BIG EAST home games this spring, the Bluejays are hitting .392 and have outscored foes 51-23. Creighton owns a .506 on-base percentage and a .600 slugging percentage in the five games while producing 14 extra-base hits.
   Eight different women have five or more hits in those five games, and four of them have scored six times or more.
   Among those offensive standouts have been Michelle Trulin, who is hititng .545 (6-11) with seven walks and a .722 on-base percentage, scoring 11 times.

Magic Number 5
Creighton is 14-0 this season when scoring five runs or more, and was won its last 18 games dating to last season when that happens.
   That moves Creighton to 177-16 since 2007 when that happens. In the same time span Creighton is 134-183-2 when scoring four runs or fewer.
   Creighton's 14-12 victory in the nightcap vs. Providence on March 23rd snapped a 32-game losing streak when allowing 10 or more runs, a streak that dated to a 13-12 victory over Drake on April 9, 2002.

Leads Generally Safe
Creighton has done an excellent job of protecting leads this season. In fact, there's only been two games that Creighton has led at any point in which it hasn't won, a Feb. 12 game vs. Cal State Northridge when CU couldn't hold onto a 2-0 lead, and an April 2 game vs. Seton Hall when the Jays squandered leads of 1-0 and 2-1.
   Creighton is 19-1 when leading after three innings, 18-0 when leading after four innings, and 16-0 when leading after five or six innings this season.
   On the other end of the spectrum, eight of Creighton's 22 wins this season have been of the come-from-behind variety.

Creighton Picked Fifth in BIG EAST
As announced by the BIG EAST Conference on Feb. 1, Creighton was tabbed fifth in the Preseason Coaches' Poll, just one point shy of Seton Hall for fourth place. Last season's regular season and tournament champion, St. John's, was unanimously chosen to top the poll. The Red Storm received all seven available first-place votes for a total of 49 points, as the league's head coaches ranked the teams one through seven and were not allowed to vote for their own programs.
   With two All-BIG EAST selections returning, Creighton will look to build off of last year's 22-21 campaign. Allie Reinhart led the Bluejays with a .396 batting average, 21 hits and 12 RBI in conference play last season. Blake Ringle finished second on the team with 10 long balls, four of which came in BIG EAST action. Including Reinhart and Ringle, the Bluejays return 15 players from a year ago. Creighton welcomes seven newcomers to the roster: Aujanae McCoy, Tara Fallahee, Bry Flanagan, Kelly Mardones, Michal Hylton, Val Bertrand and Mileah McKelvy.

Line-up Switcheroo
Head coach Brent Vigness made several notable changes to his line-up during the March 30th doubleheader vs. South Dakota State, then has followed the same gameplan during the past seven games.
   Tash Coffiel, who had started 26-of-27 games at third base, has now started the last seven games at shortstop.
   Jen Daro, who had started all 27 games at first base, has now started the last seven games at third base.
   Anna O'Gorman, who had made five starts at second base, 11 starts in right field and nine starts at designated player, has made her first seven starts of the season at first base.
   In the circle, Kelly Mardones made her first start of the season in game two vs. SDSU, as well.
   The defensive changes seemed to work well, as Coffiel, Daro, O'Gorman and Mardones have handled 70-of-74 chances successfully.
   Creighton also turned a pair of double plays in game two vs. SDSU, both on line drives to third base where a runner was doubled off first base. It was just the seventh time in the last eight seasons (395 games) that CU has turned a pair of double plays in the same contest.

RPI Update
The latest NCAA Softball RPI, released through games of April 10th, has Creighton with the fourth-best RPI in the BIG EAST.
   Creighton had an RPI of 145, trailing only DePaul (111), Villanova (115) and Butler (143). This week's opponents have RPI's of 76 (Drake), 160 (Iowa State) and 115 (Villanova).
   Creighton is 21-4 this year against teams with an RPI worse than 140, but 1-8 against teams in the top 140.

In The Circle
Creighton has used five different women inside the circle this year, with tremendous success.
   Creighton leads or is tied for the BIG EAST lead in ERA (3.38), saves (2), strikeouts (240) and fewest earned runs allowed (106).

What A Start!
Creighton opened its series with Providence on March 23rd with an eight-run first inning, keying an eventual 11-3 win.
   Creighton had not scored eight or more runs in the first inning since scoring 13 times in the first inning vs. North Dakota State on April 5, 2010.
   Creighton's top-scoring inning this season was a nine-run outburst in the second frame vs. Georgetown on April 9th. Creighton had not scored nine or more runs in an inning since scoring 12 runs in the third inning vs. Indiana State on March 31, 2012.

Allender Always In
Kelsey Allender continues to be a fixture in the Creighton line-up. Not only has she started every game this season, but she's started every game of her career.
   Allender enters Tuesday's game vs. Drake with 177 consecutive starts.
   Allender's not the only Blujeay with an impressive starting streak, as Jen Daro's made 113 straight starts (and has played in all 130 games since enrolling) and Blake Ringle's at 77 starts in a row.

Daro To Be Different
Jen Daro's grand slam in game two vs. Providence on March 23rd was her team-high sixth home run of the season. She added her seventh dinger on March 30th in game one vs. South Dakota State.
   She's the first Bluejay to launch a grand slam since Liz Dike on April 11, 2015, though Daro also hit a grand slam last year on April 8th vs. South Dakota.
   If you're curious, the last Creighton player with multiple grand slams in the same season is Bailey Dawson, who had two in 2008.

Give Me Four
Allie Reinhart went 4-for-4 in game two against Providence on March 23rd, becoming the first Bluejay with four hits in a game since Bri Lingl on April 5, 2014.
   Reinhart leads Creighton with 14 multiple-hit games, but that marked her first contest this year with three or more safeties. It was also her first career game as a Bluejay with four hits.
   Speaking of four, Michelle Trulin's four runs in game two vs. Providence on March 23rd were the most by a Bluejay since Kelsey Allender scored four times vs. Saint Peter's on March 12, 2015.
   Trulin has scored 14 times in the last 11 games after scoring nine times total in CU's first 23 games this season.

Situtational Numbers
Creighton is 14-2 this year when stealing a base, and had won 16 straight games dating to last year when picking up a steal prior to a March 30th game 2 loss to South Dakota State.
   Creighton is 12-0 this year when Allie Reinhart scores, and has won each of the last 17 games in which she's scored. Creighton is also 12-2 this year when Reinhart has an RBI. Reinhart is 21-for-46 in the last 16 games, producing 15 RBI and 10 runs in that span.
   Creighton is 17-1 this year when Michelle Trulin has a hit, and is 15-1 when Trulin scores this season. Trulin is 15-for-34 with 16 runs scored in CU's last 13 contests.
   Creighton is 12-1 when Mileah McKelvy has a hit.
   Creighton is 16-2 when scoring first this season and 22-2 when leading at any point this season.

McKelvy Delivers
Mileah McKelvy had the best game of her young career on March 5 vs. Niagara when she went 2-for-3 with two homers and five RBI in a Bluejay victory.
   The outburst came after she entered the contest with three career hits and one career RBI in her first 13 games played.
   McKelvy is the first Bluejay freshman with multiple home runs in a game since Amy Baker launched two round-trippers vs. Northern Iowa on April 17, 2010. Baker had three multi-home run games as a freshman and graduated in 2013 with a school-record 58 home runs overall.

Rebel Yell
Creighton has played some of its best softball of the season at the Rebel Spring Games in recent springs.
   This was the fourth straight season Creighton has spent its spring break in Florida at the Rebel Spring Games, and it has now gone 35-5 in those trips.
   In those games Creighton owns a collective ERA of 0.98, allowing just 38 earned runs in 271.1 innings. At the plate the Bluejays are hitting .270 in those Florida games, hitting 269-for-997 in the 40 games.
Year   W-L   AVG   R   HR   ERA
2016   9-1   .266   45   4   1.33
2015   9-1   .304   63   8   0.74
2014   11-1   .264   47   4   0.77
2013   6-2   .241   29   9   1.15

Eck Wins Three Weekly BIG EAST Awards
Junior RHP Sydnee Eck was named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 22, Feb. 29 and March 7.
   During those three weeks, Eck went 7-1 with a 2.70 ERA in eight appearances. She struck out 68 batters in 46.2 innings of work, allowing just 43 hits and 10 walks.
   Eck became CU's first hurler to be named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week in consecutive weeks since Becca Changstrom was honored by the BIG EAST on March 17 & 24, 2014, and is the first Bluejay softball player to be honored three straight weeks since at least the 2003 season.

Vigness Wins #700
Head Coach Brent Vigness is in his 23rd season as head coach at Creighton, where he owns a 708-503-3 record. He is the winningest coach in Creighton history in any sport and picked up his 700th victory against South Dakota State on March 10th.
   Vigness has a career record of 856-574-4 in 28 years overall, which includes five seasons at Assumption (Mass.) College.
   Vigness is assisted by two of his former players, Renae Sinkler and Alexis Cantu.
   Below is a look how long it's taken Vigness to reach each 100-win milestone at Creighton:
Win #   Date   W-L-T
100   4/23/97   100-100-0
200   5/6/00   200-168-0
300   3/12/04   300-252-0
400   2/17/07   400-305-1
500   4/4/09   500-345-2
600   4/21/12   600-422-3
700   3/10/16   700-500-3

Daro at the Bat
Junior first baseman Jen Daro had a huge weekend at the Troy Cox Classic from Feb. 19-21. In five games in Las Cruces, Daro combined to hit 6-for-12 at the plate with 13 RBI.
   She homered once in Creighton's 11-3 win over Campbell on Saturday, Feb. 20, and twice more in the Bluejays' following game that day, a 6-1 win over Western Michigan. Prior to Daro, the last Creighton player to homer in consecutive contests was Alexis Cantu—a current assistant on Creighton's coaching staff—in 2014.
   Cantu had also been the last Bluejay with multiple three-run home runs in the same game, having done so on April 6, 2012 at Wichita State as part of a game with three home runs.
   Daro's three different three-run homers over the course of two games on Feb. 20 are made more impressive when learning that CU hit seven total three-run homers in 2015.

Covering the Bases with Erin McGonigal
Fans who enjoyed following Creighton Softball along with Erin McGonigal last season can do so again this year, as the senior infielder chronicles the Bluejays' 2016 season in her "Covering the Bases" blog. Blog updates can be found online at GoCreighton.com.

Strength of Schedule
The Bluejays' schedule features eight opponents who made NCAA Tournament appearances last season, including five teams which won their respective regular-season conference championships: BYU (WCC), Cal State Northridge (Big West), New Mexico State (WAC), Oklahoma (Big 12), and St. John's (BIG EAST).
   Creighton's matchups with Oklahoma and New Mexico State in the Troy Cox Classic marked the fifth and sixth occasions already this season that the Bluejays faced off with teams that finished last season with RPI rankings better than 70: Tennessee (9), Oklahoma (12), New Mexico State (43), Cal State Northridge (51), BYU (56), and UC Riverside (70).
   One of Creighton's toughest tests of the year came immediately out of the gate with a season-opening matchup with perennial power Tennessee to begin the Kajikawa Classic on Feb. 11. In the contest, Creighton trailed by a slim, 3-0, margin until the sixth inning when Tennessee scored twice to seal a 5-0 victory. Last season, the Volunteers posted a 47-17 record and clinched the program's seventh Women's College World Series bid.

On the Road Again
Creighton's first 24 contests this season took place away from home, as the Bluejays take part in four consecutive tournaments: Kajikawa Classic (Feb. 11-13; Tempe, Ariz.), Troy Cox Classic (Feb. 19-21; Las Cruces, N.M.), North Texas Invitational (Feb. 27-28; Denton, Texas), and Rebel Spring Games (March 5-10; Kissimmee, Fla.).
   After travelling for the first month of the season, 13 of Creighton's following 19 contests were scheduled to take place at home inside the confines of the Creighton Sports Complex.

Softball Opens Busy Week With Contests Against Drake, Iowa State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kelsey Allender

Valentina Bertrand

Tash Coffiel

Jen Daro

Liz Dike

Sydnee Eck

Tara Fallahee

Bry Flanagan

Michal Hylton

Kelly Mardones

Aujanae McCoy

Erin McGonigal

Mileah McKelvy

Anna O'Gorman

Allie Reinhart

Blake Ringle

Michelle Trulin

Micaela Whitney