Softball Welcomes Iowa and Wichita State For Creighton Tournament On Saturday and Sunday

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Creighton hosts its first regular-season tournament since 1997 when it welcomes Wichita State and Iowa to Omaha for the Creighton Tournament.

The Bluejays will play three games, while a total of five games are scheduled for the two-day event at the Creighton Sports Complex.

2018 Creighton Tournament Schedule
Saturday, March 17
Wichita State vs. Iowa       12 pm
Iowa at Creighton       2:30 pm
Wichita State at Creighton   5 pm

Sunday, March 18
Iowa vs. Wichita State       12 pm
Wichita State at Creighton   2:30 pm
*All times listed are Central

Follow The Games
All fives games of the tournament will feature live stats. Links to the stats are available at GoCreighton.com.

Additionally, each contest will be streamed on Jays Video at GoCreighton.com/Watch, free of charge.

Scoring updates and infographics will be provided via Twitter at @BluejaySoftball.

Scouting Creighton (10-7)
The Bluejays enter the weekend after winning two of three games during the team's home-opening series against Southeast Missouri (March 9-10).

Creighton defeated the Redhawks 6-3 with a walk-off three-run home run by Kelli Finan during the first game of the series. The Bluejays fell 7-4 during the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday before claiming the series with a 7-5 victory.

Senior transfer Hope Moreno leads the team and ranks third in the BIG EAST with a .404 batting average and is tied for the team lead in hits (19) and RBIs (17). Sophomore Ashley Cantu paces the Jays with 16 runs scored and also owns 19 hits while hitting in the lead-off spot during each of Creighton's 17 games.

Creighton leads the BIG EAST and ranks 28th nationally with a .318 batting average and also paces the league and is 22nd in Division I with a .406 on-base percentage.

Finan supplies the power for the Bluejays with four home runs, three doubles and 17 RBIs. Her .714 slugging percentage ranks second in the BIG EAST.

Senior Bryana Clark leads the pitching staff with 12 appearances (seven starts) and claims a 1.75 ERA during 44.0 innings pitched.

The entire staff owns a 3.00 ERA and 88 strikeouts to 35 walks during 107.1 innings of work.

Scouting Wichita State (14-8)
The Shockers enter the weekend on a six game winning streak, which includes a perfect 4-0 showing at the Wichita State tournament last weekend with two victories each against Missouri State and Western Illinois.

Paige Luellen led the Shockers with four runs scored, three home runs and 10 RBIs while hitting .429 (6-for-14) last weekend. Her walk-off three-run home run during the bottom of the seventh on Sunday against Western Illinois not only lifted Wichita State to its fourth victory of the weekend, but also propelled Luellen into first place on the program's career RBIs list.

The senior leads the team this season in batting average (.390), on-base percentage (.444), home runs (4) and RBIs (16).

The Shockers are hitting .259 as a team through the first 22 games of the season.

Bailey Lange leads Wichita State in the circle with 75.0 innings pitched during 18 appearances (13 starts). She owns a 2.80 ERA and 86 strikeouts to only 22 walks.

The Shockers own a 3.66 team-ERA as three other pitchers besides Lange have combined for 64 innings of work.

Series History Against Shockers
Creighton leads the all-time series against Wichita State 50-28.

The Bluejays and Shockers last met during the 2014 season, with Creighton picking up a 2-1 victory during that game in Omaha.

The two teams met annually from 1993-2013 as members of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Scouting Iowa (10-9)
The Hawkeyes travel to Omaha following a 5-2 showing in the state of Arizona this past week, which included a 3-1 victory over No. 13 Arizona State on Wednesday night.

Mallory Kilian leads Iowa in batting average (.313), on-base percentage (.435), doubles (4), home runs (3) and is tied for the team-lead with 11 RBIs.

Allie Wood paces the squad with 18 hits, while Aralee Bogar owns a team-best 14 runs scored and is a perfect 10-10 in stolen base attempts.

The Hawkeyes are hitting .230 as a team.

Allison Doocy leads the pitching staff with a 1.17 ERA during 60.0 innings of work in 10 appearances (nine starts). The Hawkeyes hold a 1.75 team-ERA, which ranks third in the Big Ten and 28th nationally.

Series History Against Hawkeyes
Creighton holds a 21-8 lead in the all-time series with Iowa.

The two teams met last season at the Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa City, with the Bluejays defeated the Hawkeyes 4-2 in eight innings.

The two teams have not met in Omaha since 1989.

Creighton Tournament History
The last time Creighton hosted a regular-season tournament was April 22-23, 1997, when the team hosted the Lady Jay Classic. The Bluejays also hosted the MVC Tournament four times, most recently during the team's final season in the conference in 2013.

This weekend marks the 10th in-season tournament the Bluejays have hosted in program history.

Finan Makes BIG EAST Honor Roll
Junior utility player Kelli Finan made this week's BIG EAST honor roll after going 4-for-10 with a home run, double and 5 RBIs during three games against Southeast Missouri. She also scored a team-high three runs during the home-opening weekend.

Finan delivered a walk-off three-run home run during the season-opener on March 9 during Creighton 6-3 victory.

The Long Beach State transfer started at second base during the first game of the weekend before playing first base for both games of Saturday's doubleheader.

Walk-off Victory History
Kelli Finan's three-run home run with two outs during the bottom of the seventh inning to propel Creighton to a 6-3 victory over Southeast Missouri during the Bluejays' home-opener (March 9) marked Creighton's first walk-off victory since Sam Dellinger hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Jays run-ruled Butler 11-2 on April 22, 2017.

Allie Reinhart also delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly to help the Jays defeat Butler 4-3 during the first game of Creighton's doubleheader against the Bulldogs (4/22/17), less than two hours before Dellinger's game-ending home run.

Prior to Finan's blast on March 9, the last time Creighton earned a victory with a walk-off home run during the seventh inning or later was on April 5, 2014 when Alexis Cantu hit a two-run home run during the bottom of the 16th inning against Villanova.

Bluejays Prepare For More Home Games
Creighton is scheduled to play 22 home games this season, which would be the most for the program in a single-season since 2007 (15-6-1 mark during 22 games).

The Bluejays are 2-1 in Omaha so far this season after their home-opening weekend against Southeast Missouri (March 9-10).

The Bluejays played only 12 home games during the 2017 season, the fewest since the 1994 season when it played only 10.

Jays Keeping It Close
Creighton did not play any one-run games during the first three weeks of the season before playing three at the Mizzou Tournament in Columbia, Missouri (March 2-4).

The Bluejays defeated Drake 2-1, and lost to Southeastern Louisiana 4-3 and Drake 2-1.

Creighton played in 14 one-run games in 2017, and went 7-7 during those games.

The Jays also finished 4-1 during one-run BIG EAST contests.

The Bluejays owned two walk-off one-run victories.

Small-ball Bluejays
Creighton owns 18 sacrifice bunts and four sac flies through the first 17 games of the season.

Sam Crowley leads the team with five sacrifice bunts and Victoria Alvarez has three.

The Bluejays had a total of seven sacrifice flies and 44 sac bunts during 2017. Creighton led the BIG EAST in sacrifice bunts for the second consecutive season.

The Jays finished with five sacrifice flies and led the league with 48 sacrifice bunts during the 2016 season, including 15 from senior Kelsey Allender.

Softball Welcomes Iowa and Wichita State For Creighton Tournament On Saturday and Sunday

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Players Mentioned

Victoria Alvarez

Ashley Cantu

Bryana Clark

Sam Crowley

Kelli Finan

Hope Moreno