Softball Makes Trip To Tennessee For Tiger Classic

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Creighton travels to Nashville, Tennessee for the Tiger Classic. The Bluejays are scheduled to play four games over the course of two days.

Game Schedule
Game #1 • Saturday, Feb. 22 • Creighton vs. Rider • 9 a.m.
Game #2 • Saturday, Feb. 22 • Creighton at Tennessee State • 2 p.m.
Game #3 • Sunday, Feb. 23 • Creighton vs. Central Connecticut State • 10 a.m.
Game #4 • Sunday, Feb. 23 • Creighton vs. Bowling Green • 12:30 p.m.
*All times listed are Central Standard Time

Follow The Games
Lives stats for each game will be available via StatBroadcast.

There will not be a video stream for 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.

Scouting Creighton (5-4)
The Bluejays split four games during the North Texas Invitational in Denton, Texas.

Creighton ended the weekend with victories against UT Martin and Abilene Christian.

Ashley Cantu leads the Bluejays and the BIG EAST with a .500 batting average and 16 hits. Kiara Mills paces the team with a .792 slugging percentage, including a team-best five doubles. Mills is also tied for the team lead with eight runs scored.

Five different players have hit a home run, while Mileah McKelvy paces the team with eight RBIs.

Creighton leads the BIG EAST with a .309 team-batting average and 6.11 runs per game.

Kiele Miller leads the conference with 35.0 innings pitched and ranks 24th nationally with 42 strikeouts. Miller owns a 1.80 ERA and is holding opponents to a .226 batting average.

The Bluejays rank second in the conference with a 2.55 team-ERA.

Head coach Brent Vigness, Creighton's winningest coach across all sports, is in his 27th season at the helm of the Bluejays.

Scouting Rider (0-0)
The Broncs were picked 10th in the MAAC Preseason Poll.

Rider finished 10-44 last season, including a 6-14 mark during league play.

Outfielder Kelsey Marigliano, utility player Elyse Cuttic and pitcher Debra Jones are each captains for the 2020 squad.

Marigliano earned All-MAAC Second Team honors last season after splitting time at second base and center field. The senior posted a team-best .323
batting average, including a .397 mark in league play. She also scored 25 runs and recorded seven doubles and five stolen bases.

Cuttic, a 2018 All-MAAC Second Team selection, owns 324 career innings pitched, while posting eight home runs, 47 RBIs and 40 runs scored as a hitter
during three seasons at Rider. She hit .237 last season and drove in 14 runs. She also made 24 appearances, including 16 starts in the circle and posted a 6.88 ERA during 96.2 innings of work.

Jones led the Broncs with 112.1 innings pitched and 67 strikeouts last season. She tallied 28 appearances, including 15 starts.

Head coach Davon Ortega is in her third season at the helm of Rider.

Series History Against Broncs
Saturday morning will be the first meeting between Creighton and Rider.

Scouting Tennessee State (2-7)
The Tigers own a 2-7 mark to start the season, including a 1-4 record at the Bulldog Kickoff Classic in Starkville, Mississippi this past weekend.

Tennessee State upset Tulsa to advance to the championship game before falling to Mississippi State.

Sarah Snell currently leads the team with eight hits and three RBIs, while Patton Akers has scored a team-high four times.

The Tigers are hitting .186 as a team with only 11 runs through nine games.

Brie Vire, Tennessee State's top returning hitter after posting a .329 batting average last year, is 2-for-15 during five starts this season.

Lauren Powell and Raven Loveless have each pitched exactly 26 innings and appeared in five games each. Powell owns 22 strikeouts and a 2.69 ERA, while starting four games and posting three complete games, while Loveless owns a 3.77 ERA and has started two games.

Powell sat out the entire 2019 season because of injury, but struck out 91 batters as a junior in 2018, while Loveless earned a spot on the 2019 OVC All-Newcomer team after posting a 2.96 ERA.

The Tigers returned 10 letterwinners from last year's team and were picked 11th in the OVC Preseason Poll.

Head coach Andrea Browning is in her third year at Tennessee State.

Series History Against Tigers

The series between Creighton and Tennessee State is tied, 1-1.

The Tigers defeated the Bluejays on March 10, 2006 during the Rebel Spring Games, while Creighton
defeated Tennessee State during the Rebel Spring Games in 2005.

Scouting Central Connecticut St. (0-0)
CCSU was picked to finish seventh in the Northeast Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll.

Both Alexa Milius and Rian Eigenmann each made the NEC All-Rookie Team in 2019.

Milius hit .374 with 40 hits, including nine doubles, one triple and one home run, while posting 18 RBIs.

Eigenmann hit .333 with a team-best 48 hits (11 doubles and three home runs) in 2019 and stole 18 bases.

Ashley Antonazzo, Kari Marks and Carley Stoker each return in the circle for CCSU.

Antonazzo led the team with a 4.42 ERA in 90.1 innings of work, while Stoker paced the squad with 111.1 innings pitched. Marks led the Blue Devils with 70 strikeouts during 77.2 innings.

The Blue Devils went 17-24, including 4-12 in league play, last season.

Head coach Breanne Gleason is in her seventh year at the helm of CCSU.

Series History Against Blue Devils
Saturday marks the first meeting between Creighton and Central Connecticut State.

Scouting Bowling Green (2-3)
The Falcons started the season with two wins in five games at the Chattanooga Classic.

Taylor Blevins led the team with seven hits during the opening weekend. Blevins hit .311 last season and posted 12 stolen bases.

Madi McCoy led the team with four runs scored, while Logan Everett drove in a team-high six runs. McCoy paced Bowling Green with a .324 batting average, nine homers and 31 RBIs in 2019.

Payton Gottshall paced the Falcons with 24 innings pitched. Gottshall posted a 1.75 ERA and struck out 36 batters. She posted a complete-game one-hitter with 17
strikeouts against Tennessee Tech during her collegiate debut on Friday afternoon.

BGSU was picked to finish ninth in the MAC after finishing 22-29 (7-14 MAC) last season.

Head coach Sarah Willis is in her fifth season at Bowling Green.

Series History Against Falcons
Bowling Green defeated Creighton during the only previous meeting between the two schools.

The Falcons claimed a 1-0 victory over the Bluejays on April 4, 1986 at the UNI Classic in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Alvarez and Miller Named to BE Honor Roll
Victoria Alvarez and Kiele Miller each made the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, the league announced on Monday.
Alvarez led the Bluejays with a .600 slugging percentage during the North Texas Invitational. She ended the weekend by going 2-for-3 with a pair of two-RBI doubles against Abilene Christian on Saturday.

Miller recorded 19 strikeouts during 17 innings of work and allowed only two earned runs (0.82 ERA). She did not allow a run during 10 innings with 16 strikeouts on Saturday. Miller struck out 10 during a shutout of UT Martin before collecting six strikeouts in a three-inning save against Abilene Christian.

Miller Moving Into Record Books
Kiele Miller posted 19 strikeouts during 17 innings in Denton, Texas.

Miller moved into ninth place on Creighton's career strikeouts list with 283.

The junior needs 17 strikeouts to become the seventh player in Bluejay softball history to record 300 or more strikeouts.

Creighton Career Strikeouts
Rk Ks Player Years
1. 1,086 Tara Oltman 2007-10
2. 914 Tammy Nielsen 2003-05
3. 860 Becca Changstrom 2011-14
4. 495 Shelli Mellegaard 1999-02
5. 458 Kandy Foust 1983-85
6. 308 Holly Hesse 1979-82
7. 294 Marcia Jacobsen 1981-84
8. 289 Kelly Brookhart 1988-91
9. 283 Kiele Miller 2018-Pr.
10. 282 Sydnee Eck 2015-16

Small-Ball Bluejays
The Bluejays lead the BIG EAST with 15 sacrifice bunts and three sacrifice flys.

Sam Alm owns a team-best four sacrifices, while four other players have two a piece.

Creighton owned 48 sacrifice bunts in 44 games last season, which led the BIG EAST.

Kaitlynn Hunt paced the Bluejays with 13, while Jayci Foster had 11 and Sam Alm tallied 10.

Hunt ranked fourth nationally with 0.31 sacrifice bunts per game.

Creighton also led the BIG EAST with 49 sacrifice bunts in 2018, while the Bluejays' Sam Crowley led Division I with 0.41 sac bunts per game.

McKelvy Moves Into Tie For 7th on HBP List
Senior Mileah McKelvy was hit by the pitch during the top of the first inning against Abilene Christian on Saturday. McKelvy has been hit 18 times during her career as a Bluejay, which is tied for seventh-most in program history.

McKelvy was hit by the pitch nine times in 2019, which is tied for sixth in a single season for a Creighton player.

Creighton Career Hit By Pitch List
1. Jen Daro, 39 (2014-17)
2. Michelle Graner, 34 (2007-10)
3. Alexis Cantu, 29 (2012-14)
4. Michelle Koch, 25 (2007-10)
Lauren Cisneros, 25 (2003-06)
6. Sami Herbster, 21 (2000-03)
7. Liz McKewon, 18 (2008-11)
Mileah McKelvy, 18 (2016-Present)
9. Renae Sinkler-O'Gorman, 16 (2007-10)
10. Tash Coffiel, 13 (2015-18)

Softball Makes Trip To Tennessee For Tiger Classic

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Sam Alm

Victoria Alvarez

Ashley Cantu

Jayci Foster

Kaitlynn Hunt

Mileah McKelvy

Kiele Miller

Kiara Mills

Softball Makes Trip To Tennessee For Tiger Classic

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Sam Alm

Victoria Alvarez

Ashley Cantu

Jayci Foster

Kaitlynn Hunt

Mileah McKelvy

Kiele Miller

Kiara Mills

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