Softball Opens BIG EAST Schedule At Home Against Providence

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Creighton opens its BIG EAST schedule with a three-game home series against Providence.

Matchup
Wednesday, March 28 • Providence (6-15, 2-0 BIG EAST) at Creighton (11-10, 0-0 BIG EAST) • 12 p.m. (DH)
Thursday, March 29 • Providence at Creighton • 12 p.m. (DH)

Follow The Games
Live stats for all three contests can be found at Creighton.Statbroadcast.com.

Live streams with audio commentary will be available on Jays Video (gocreighton.com/jaysvideo) for all three games and the 16 remaining Bluejay home games.

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

Scouting Creighton (11-9, 0-0 BIG EAST)
The Bluejays open up their BIG EAST schedule with a three-game series against Providence.

Creighton leads the conference in batting average (.306), on-base percentage (.397) and scoring (5.48 runs per game).

Six Bluejays are hitting better than .300, led by freshman Courtney Sandell (.382), senior Hope Moreno (.368) and sophomore Ashley Cantu (.364).

Cantu leads the team in hits (24), runs scored (18) and walks (10), and is one of two Bluejays to start all 21 games this season.

Moreno has also started each game this season after playing the first three seasons of her collegiate career at UTEP, and is tied for the team lead with 18 RBIs.

Kelli Finan ranks second in the BIG EAST with a .642 slugging percentage and paces Creighton with four home runs.

The Bluejays own a 3.57 team-ERA, led by Bryana Clark who boasts a 2.23 ERA during a team-high 59.2 innings pitched.

Creighton was picked fifth in the 2018 BIG EAST preseason coaches' poll after a sixth place finish last season.

Scouting Providence (5-16, 2-0 BIG EAST)
The Friars opened conference play last weekend with two victories at home against Georgetown.

Providence features only one player with a batting average higher than .250 and owns a .190 average as a team.

The Friars average 1.85 runs per game and have 21 extra-base hits through their first 21 games of the season.

Emma Lee and Mackensie Compton have each stolen six bases as Providence is tied for third in the league with 23 steals.

The pitching staff holds a 3.54 ERA, which is good enough for the second-best mark in the league.

Head coach Kerri Jacklets is in her 13th season as head coach of the Friars.

Series History Against Friars
Creighton leads the all-time series against Providence 6-5.

The Friars swept the Bluejays last season during three games in Rhode Island.

Creighton is 5-0 against Providence in Omaha.

Creighton's First BIG EAST Weekend
Last weekend marked the start of the BIG EAST schedule. All eight teams were scheduled to play three games, but Creighton and St. John's, as well as Butler and Villanova, were unable to play because of snow.

The Bluejays and Red Storm have yet to find a time to makeup the series, but both institutions are trying to work on a possible pair of days.

The top four teams in the final regular-season standings will advance to the BIG EAST Championship which will be held in Rosemont, Illinois, May 11-12.

St. John's won last season's regular-season title before DePaul earned the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament with the conferene tournament title.

The Bluejays have qualified for the four-team postseason tournament once (2014) since joining the BIG EAST in 2014.

McGill Extends Hitting Streak To 11
Jayci McGill enters the series against Providence on an 11-game hitting streak.

The junior infielder has had one hit during each of her past 11 games played (all starts).

McGill is 11-for-31 (.356) with three runs scored, three doubles, three RBIs, two walks and a home run during her current hitting streak.

Cantu Continues To Shine As Lead-off
Sophomore Ashley Cantu has hit in the lead-off position of the batting order for each of Creighton's 21 games.

Cantu leads the Bluejays in hits (24), runs (18), walks (10) and stolen bases (3-3).

She is 14-for-27 (.519) as the lead-off hitter of an inning.

The Frisco, Texas native went 3-for-4 with an RBI during Creighton's last game on March 20 against Nebraska.

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 3-3 in Omaha so far this season after their home-opening weekend against Southeast Missouri (March 9-10) and hosting the Creighton Tournament (March 17-18).

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

NCAA RPI Update
Creighton ranked 130th in the RPI rankings released on Monday.

The Bluejays are the second-highest ranked BIG EAST school as DePaul checked in at No. 62.

Providence is No. 233 in this week's RPI rankings (296 Division I softball programs ranked).

Midweek Games
The Bluejays' matchup against Nebraska (March 20) marked the first midweek game of Creighton's 2018 scheduled.

The Bluejays were scheduled to play at UMKC on Tuesday, March 6 but weather forced the cancellation of that game.

Creighton is scheduled to play five midweek games on four different dates (excluding this week's BIG EAST series) during the remainder of the season.

The Jays finished 2-3 during midweek games last season.

Bad Weather Blues
Creighton has had three tournaments and two weekend sets adjusted because of weather.

Most recently the Bluejays canceled their trip to play St. John's in New York because of a snow storm along the east coast.

In total, so far this season five games of Creighton's originally scheduled games have been canceled, two have switched dates and three have yet to be rescheduled.

First Career Home Run Proves Timely
Sophomore Mikaela Pechar hit her first career home run on March 17 against Wichita State during a pinch-hit opportunity.

Pechar launched a three-run home run to tie the game at 10-10 during the bottom of the fifth inning before the Bluejays defeated the Shockers 12-11 in eight innings.

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 has played in five one-run games overall this season (all during the month of March) and is 2-3 during those contests.

The Bluejays played in 14 one-run games in 2017, and went 7-7.

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

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

Small-ball Bluejays
Creighton owns 20 sacrifice bunts and five sac flies through 21 games this season.

Sam Crowley leads the team with five sacrifice bunts while Victoria Alvarez and Ashley Cantu each have 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 Opens BIG EAST Schedule At Home Against Providence

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Players Mentioned

Victoria Alvarez

Ashley Cantu

Bryana Clark

Sam Crowley

Kelli Finan

Jayci Foster

Hope Moreno

Mikaela Pechar

Courtney Sandell