Creighton University
Providence
Softball Resumes BIG EAST Play With Road Weekend At Providence
3/28/2019 3:20:00 PM | Softball
Creighton owns 12 home runs during its past four games
Up Next
Creighton continues BIG EAST Conference play with a three-game series against Providence.
Game Schedule
Games #23 & #24 • Saturday, March 30 • Creighton (11-11, 1-2 BIG EAST) at Providence (17-12, 1-2 BIG EAST) • 11 a.m. (DH)
Game #25 • Sunday, March 31 • Creighton at Providence • 10 a.m.
*All times listed are Central Standard Time
Follow The Games
All three games will be broadcast via Friars All-Access (Friars.com/Watch). A subscription is required to view the contests.Â
Live stats will be available for the game via SIDEARM Sports.Â
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 (11-11)
The Bluejays opened their home schedule with an 11-5 victory on Wednesday after a 1-2 showing against Georgetown during the first weekend of BIG EAST play.Â
Creighton led 4-1 and lost by a single run during both setbacks against the Hoyas.
Lead-off hitter and center fielder Ashley Cantu ranks sixth in the BIG EAST with a .361 batting and is second in on-base percentage (.500). The junior paces the Bluejays in hits (22), runs scored (18) and walks (17).Â
Freshman Kiara Mills leads the Bluejays with five home runs and 18 RBIs. Mills hit .556 (5-for-9) with three homers and seven RBIs last weekend against Georgetown. She also hit home runs during each of her first two at-bats during Creighton's home-opener on Wednesday.Â
Creighton owns a .269 team-batting average and averages 5.05 runs per game. The Bluejays have scored 10 or more runs during five games this season.
Logan Black leads the Creighton pitching staff with a 3.95 ERA (62.0 innings), while Kiele Miller ranks sixth in the BIG EAST with 61 strikeouts and in the top 20 nationally with 10.1 strikeouts per seven innings. Miller also leads the BIG EAST with a .213 batting average against.
Head coach Brent Vigness, Creighton's winningest coach across all sports, is in his 26th season at the helm of the Bluejays.
Scouting Providence (17-12)
The Friars opened BIG EAST play last weekend with a 1-2 record at St. John's but earned a pair of home midweek victories, including a walk-off win on Wednesday against Rhode Island.
Emma Lee paces the Friar offense and ranks second in the BIG EAST with a .410 batting average and ranks fourth in the conference with 34 hits. Lee also claims a .400 average against the Bluejays during nine games played (12-for-30).Â
Lee is tied with Vanessa Portillo for the team lead in runs scored with 15, while Portillo and Lauren Nunez each have 13 RBIs to pace Providence.
Freshman Daniela Alvarez leads the Friars' pitching staff and paces the BIG EAST with a 1.91 ERA during 84.1 innings. Alvarez also owns 72 strikeouts to only 13 walks and claims nine victories.Â
Providence leads the BIG EAST and ranks in the top 50 nationally with a 2.36 team-ERA.Â
Head coach Jill Karwoski is in her first season at the helm of the Friars.Â
Series History Against Friars
Creighton leads the all-time series against Providence, 8-6.Â
The Bluejays took two out of three from the Friars in Omaha last season.
Providence protected its home field and swept Creighton in 2017. The Friars also won twice in 2015 in Rhode Island as the Bluejays are 1-5 on the road against Providence.Â
Creighton Ties Program Record For Homers
The Bluejays hit six home runs on Wednesday against South Dakota to tie a program record.Â
Creighton set its single-game record for homers in a game with six last season against UMKC (April 17).
Kiara Mills hit two long balls on Wednesday against the Coyotes, Ashley Cantu tallied an inside-the-park homer and Mileah McKelvy, Kelli Finan and Mikaela Pechar each launched one.
Recent Power Surge
Creighton hit only four home runs during the first 18 games of the season, but the Bluejay have hit 12 homers during their past four games, including six on Wednesday.Â
Kiara Mills leads the Bluejays with five home runs. All five of her homers have occurred during the past week, including two on Wednesday and two in the conference opener against Georgetown (March 23).Â
Mileah McKelvy and Kelli Finan each have three long balls, while Ashley Cantu has two inside-the-park home runs.Â
Creighton is 4-4 when hitting at least one home run in a game and 2-0 with multiple homers.
Mills Earns BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll Spot
Freshman Kiara Mills earned a spot on this week's BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after opening conference play with a .556 average, three home runs and seven RBIs.Â
She also walked three times and scored four runs.
Mills became the first Creighton freshman with multiple homers in a BIG EAST game since 2017 (Sam Dellinger on April 23 vs. Butler) and the first Bluejay freshman since 2012 with three runs scored in a conference game (Bri Lingl vs. Indiana State).
The West Covina, California native capped her weekend against Georgetown by driving in all four of Creighton's runs with a single and three-run home run.
