Creighton University
Saint Louis
Softball Travels To Carbondale To Face Saint Louis, Southern Illinois and Evansville
2/20/2019 3:49:00 PM | Softball
Bluejays were originally scheduled to play in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Up Next
Creighton was scheduled to play in the Frost Classic (Chattanooga, Tennessee), but forecasted inclement weather forced the Bluejays to change their plans.Â
Creighton will now play four games this weekend in Carbondale, Illinois. The Bluejays are scheduled to face Saint Louis and Southern Illinois on Friday before playing Evansville and Southern Illinois on Sunday.Â
Game Schedule
Game #10 • Friday, Feb. 22 • Creighton vs. Saint Louis • 10 a.m.
Game #11 • Friday, Feb. 22 • Creighton at Southern Illinois • 12:15 p.m.
Game #12 • Sunday, Feb. 24 • Creighton vs. Evansville • 10 a.m.
Game #13 • Sunday, Feb. 24 • Creighton at Southern Illinois • 12:15 p.m.Â
*All times listed are Central Standard Time
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Follow The Games
Live stats will be available for each of the games.
Links to live stats can be found on the Creighton Softball schedule page.
Scoring updates and infographics will be provided throughout the weekend via Twitter at @BluejaySoftball.
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Scouting Creighton (4-5)
The Bluejays went 3-1 at the Mean Green Classic this past weekend.Â
Creighton hit .371 and outscored the opposition 27-9 during four games in Denton, Texas.Â
Mileah McKelvy paces the Bluejays with a .435 batting average as Creighton holds a .308 batting average through nine games this season.
Kelli Finan leads the team in RBIs (11) while Ashley Cantu holds the team-high for runs scored (10).
The Bluejays pitching staff owns a 7.38 ERA but allowed only nine earned runs this past weekend during 23 innings (2.74 ERA). Kiele Miller leads the team with 23 strikeouts in 11.1 innings pitched, while Logan Black holds a team-best 22.2 innings pitched and Laura Roecker paces the staff with seven appearances (15.1 innings).
Creighton returned five position players that started at least half of last season's games and two pitches that started a combined 32 games last season and received five first-place votes and 43 points for the top position in the 2019 BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Head coach Brent Vigness, Creighton's winningest coach across all sports, is in his 26th season at the helm of the Bluejays.Â
Scouting Saint Louis (0-5)
The Billikens opened the season with five games at the UNI-Dome Classic in Cedar Falls, Iowa (Feb. 8-10).Â
Saint Louis scored a total of five runs and dropped each contest of the opening weekend.
Kat Lane led the Billikens offensivley with a .467 batting average (7-for-15), while Kaylyn Breitbach also tallied five hits, including two doubles, with a team-best two RBIs.
The Saint Louis pitching staff combined for an 8.63 ERA as four different pitchers started at least one game.Â
The Billikens were picked to finish fourth in the Atlantic 10 Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll.Â
Head coach Christy Connoyer is in her ninth season at the helm of Saint Louis.
Series History Against Billikens
Creighton leads the all-time series against Saint Louis, 5-0.
The Bluejays and Billikens last met in February of 2009 at the Tulsa Select Festival, as Creighton scored 18 runs (18-5), which is tied for the third-most in a single game in program history.
Scouting Southern Ilinois (7-2)
The Salukis carry a seven game winning streak and received votes in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25.Â
Southern Illinois finished a perfect 4-0 last weekend at the Puerto Vallarta Challenge.
Brianna Jones earned Puerto Vallarta Challenge MVP honors and Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week status after claiming victories in each contest and tallying a 0.74 ERA. Jones has allowed only six earned runs during 33.2 innings this season (1.25 ERA) during a team-best nine appearances, including four starts.
Shortstop Ashley Wood claimed Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week after recording a team-best .615 batting average with two extra base hits, two walks and three RBIs in Puerto Vallarta.Â
Overall, Wood leads the Salukis with a .423 batting average (11-of-26). Katelyn Massa (.417, 10-of-24) and Jenny Jansen (.379, 11-of-29) also pace Southern Illinois which holds a .298 team batting average. Massa holds a team-best two home runs and 10 RBIs.Â
Kerri Blaylock is in her 20th season as the Salukis head coach.Â
Series History Against Salukis
Creighton leads the all-time series against Southern Illinois, 35-25.
The Bluejays and Salukis met annually as Missouri Valley Conference foes from 1993-2013.
The two teams last met on March 9, 2015 at the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee, Florida (3-1 Creighton win).Â
Scouting Evansville (5-4)
The Purple Aces own a five-game winning streak heading into the third weekend of the season, including a four-game sweep of Southern.
Evansville is paced offensively by lead-off hitter Katie McLean who owns a team-best 13 hits and .464 batting average.Â
Catcher Eryn Gould, the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, leads the team with a .773 slugging percentage from two doubles and three home runs while claiming a team-best nine RBIs and six runs scored.
Five different pitchers have contibuted to Evansville's 4.76 team-ERA. Freshman Izzy Vetter leads the team with four starts, while senior Emily Lockhart paces the team with two
victories, including a no-hitter in her last outing against Southern.Â
Preseason All-MVC selection and senior Morgan Florey started the season-opener and tallied 10 strikeouts in four innings of work but has not played since that appearance.Â
Head coach Mat Mundell is in his fifth season at Evansville.
Series History Against Purple Aces
Creighton holds a 39-20 edge all-time against former Missouri Valley Conference foe Evansville.
The Bluejays and Purple Aces shared membership in the MVC from 1995-2013.
Creighton and Evansville split a pair of games at the Plainsman Invitational in Auburn, Alabama during the 2017 season for the last matchups between the two squads.Â
Cantu and Miller Honored By BIG EAST
Ashley Cantu and Kiele Miller were each honored with weekly awards by the BIG EAST on Monday afternoon.Â
Cantu claimed the conference's Player of the Week accolades, while Miller earned Pitcher of the Week recognition.
Cantu paced the Bluejays with a .727 batting average from eight hits in 11 at-bats and scored six times during Creighton's 3-1 showing at the Mean Green Classic in Denton, Texas. The junior recorded multiple hits during three of the Bluejays' four games, including three base knocks during the first game of the weekend against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.Â
Additionally, the Frisco, Texas native scored three times against the Golden Lions in the tournament-opener before scoring once during each of the final three games in her home state.
Cantu currently leads the Bluejays with 10 runs scored and is tied for the team-lead in hits with 10, while starting each of the first nine games of the season as Creighton's lead-off hitter and center fielder. She is also second on the team with five walks and third in on-base percentage (.500).Â
Miller, also a native of Texas (Dripping Springs), recorded the first no-hitter of her career and tied a career-high with 12 strikeouts against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday night. She allowed only three bases runners (one error, two hit by pitches) and retired the final 12 Golden Lions hitters she faced while needing a mere 72 pitches during five innings for Creighton's first solo no-hitter since April 2, 2016 (Micaela Whitney at Seton Hall).Â
Miller owns 23 strikeouts during 11.1 innings of work during 2019.Â
Both Cantu and Miller each received similar recognition once last season.
Miller's No-Hitter
Kiele Miller tied a career-high with 12 strikeouts and needed only 72 pitches for her five-inning no-hit performance against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Feb. 16 during the Mean Green Classic in Denton, Texas.Â
She also recorded the 24th no-hitter during head coach Brent Vigness' tenure at Creighton, and the Bluejays' first solo no-hitter since April 2, 2016 (current Bluejay assistant coach Micaela Whitney at Seton Hall).Â
Pine Bluff had one runner advance to first base on an error during the first and had two others reach after getting hit by the pitch in the second before Miller sat down the final 12 batters she faced.
Creighton no-hit a SWAC team for the second consecutive season as Bryana Clark and Logan Black combined to hold Grambling State out of the hit column during five innings on Feb. 25, 2018, also in Denton, Texas.
Whitney is the last Bluejay pitcher with a seven-inning no-hitter when she needed only 72 pitches against Seton Hall on April 2, 2016. She is also the last Creighton pitcher with multiple no-hitters as she also did not allow a hit during her Bluejay debut on Feb. 5, 2015.Â
A complete list of Creighton no-hitters can be found later in this notes packet.
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Miller Nationally Ranked
Kiele Miller's 12 strikeout performance during her no-hit performance against Arkansas Pine Bluff (Feb. 16) propelled the Bluejay sophomore to near the top of the NCAA Strikeouts Per Seven Innings List.Â
Miller owns 23 strikeouts during 11.1 innings of work which translates into 14.2 strikeouts per seven innings and ranks 2nd nationally (through games played on Feb. 17, min. 1 IP/team game played).Â
UMBC's Courtney Coppersmith leads the country with 15.0 Ks per seven innings with 10 punch outs in 4.2 innings of work.Â
McKelvy Always On Base
Junior Mileah McKelvy has reached base during each of the first nine games of the season and also holds a six-game hitting streak.Â
Dating back to the end of last season, McKelvy has reached base in 16 consecutive games.Â
She reached at least once during all five games in New Mexico (Feb. 8-10).
McKelvy tallied four hits, walked twice and was hit by the pitch twice to end the weekend with a .500 on-base percentage.
She also had a hit during each game of the Mean Green Classic (Feb. 15-16). McKelvy hit .545 by going 6-for-11 with a double, home run and three RBIs during four games in Denton, Texas. The junior had a career-high three hits during the Bluejays' first game of the weekend against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Feb. 15).
The Omaha native enters the weekend leading the team in batting average (.435) and on-base percentage (.536). She also is tied for the team-lead in hits (10), total bases (14) and home runs (1).Â
