Creighton University
Toledo
Softball Starts 2020 Season At H-E-B Classic In San Antonio
2/5/2020 2:20:00 PM | Softball
Bluejays will play five days in three games
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Creighton opens the 2020 season with five games in three days at the H-E-B Classic, hosted by Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.
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Game #1 • Friday, Feb. 7 • Creighton vs. Toledo • 10 a.m.
Game #2 • Friday, Feb. 7 • Creighton vs. North Dakota • 2 p.m.
Game #3 • Saturday, Feb. 8 • Creighton vs. Toledo • 10 a.m.
Game #4 • Saturday, Feb. 8 • Creighton vs. Texas Southern • 12 p.m.Â
Game #5 • Sunday, Feb. 9 • Creighton at Incarnate Word • 10:30 a.m.Â
*All times listed are Central Standard Time
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Follow The Games
Each game of the H-E-B Classic will feature a live stream. Live stats will be available via SIDEARM Sports.
Links to live stats and video 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
The Creighton softball team earned the fourth position with 30 points in the 2020 BIG EAST Softball Preseason Coaches' Poll.
The Bluejays finished 2019 with an 8-13 record in league play to place sixth (20-24 overall). Creighton returns 13 letterwinners, including seven position players who started more than half of the team's BIG EAST schedule, including All-BIG EAST outfielder Ashley Cantu and infielder Kiara Mills.
Cantu led Creighton with a .358 batting average and ranked third in the BIG EAST with a .472 on-base percentage. She walked 29 times, including a team-best 18 times during league play on her way to All-BIG EAST First Team honors.
Mills paced the Bluejays with 11 home runs and 33 RBIs while making the All-BIG EAST Second Team as a freshman.
Kiele Miller returns in the circle for the Bluejays after logging 75.0 innings last season with a team-best 94 strikeouts.
Seven freshmen and two sophomore transfers joined the program for the 2020 season.
Head coach Brent Vigness, Creighton's winningest coach across all sports, is in his 27th season at the helm of the Bluejays.
Scouting Toledo
The Rockets enter the new season after capturing the 2019 MAC Tournament Championship as the No. 7 seed for their first tournament title in program history.
Toledo fell to Kentucky and Illinois during the Lexington Regional to end last season at 29-28.
Erin Hunt, a 2019 All-MAC Second Team and the MAC Tournament MVP, returns in the circle for the Rockets after compiling a 2.58 ERA during 187.1 innings of work. The junior appeared in 38 games and made 27 starts, including 21 complete games while recording 196 strikeouts.
Maggie McGurk also returns after ranking second on the team with 20 appearances and 66 innings pitched a year ago.
Aubrey Reed, a MAC All-Freshman Team selection last season, posted a .281 average and started 34 games.
Rebekah Yenrick is the lone returner to have started more than 50 games last season (52 starts out of 57 total games). Yenrick ranked third on the team with 30 walks and hit .252 in 123 at-bats.
Head coach Joe Abraham is in his second season at the helm of Toledo.
Series History Against Rockets
Creighton leads the all-time series against Toledo, 4-2.
The two teams met five times during the 1980s, including three times at the 1989 NCAA Regional in Iowa City, Iowa.
The last meeting between the Rockets and Bluejays came in 2005 at the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee, Florida.
Scouting North Dakota
The Fighting Hawks were selected fourth in the Summit League Preseason Coaches' Poll.
North Dakota finished 22-34 last season.
Both Jannay Jones and Jailene Carpio earned spots on 2020 Summit League Preseason Players to Watch list.
Jones posted a team-best 3.74 ERA, while starting 24 games last season. Jones logged a team-high 146.2 innings and recorded 98 strikeouts.
Carpio paced North Dakota with a .350 batting average and earned All-Summit League Second Team honors.
Head coach Jordan Stevens is in his sixth year at North Dakota.
Series History Against Fighting Hawks
Creighton leads the all-time series against North Dakota, 3-0.
The last meeting in 2013 at the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee, Florida resulted in a 9-0 five-inning Bluejay victory.
Scouting Texas Southern
The Tigers were picked to win the SWAC West division and had six players listed on the Preseason All-SWAC teams.
Texas Southern has won 10 consecutive divisional championships.
The Tigers posted a 24-26 record in 2019, including a 15-1 mark in SWAC play, but fell to Alabama State during the tournament championship.
Outfielder Zariah Robins hit .343 with 23 hits and 12 runs scored last season.
Naomi Reyes posted a team-best 2.14 ERA during 124.1 innings pitched.
Both Robins and Reyes made the All-SWAC Second Team in 2019.
Destiny Ricks earned All-SWAC First Team honors last season and returns after posting a 2.89 ERA, including a 0.89 mark during league play.
Head coach Worley Barker is in his 16th year at the helm of Texas Southern.
Series History Against Tigers
Saturday's matchup will be the first between Creighton and Texas Southern.
Scouting Incarnate Word
Incarnate Word earned the No. 12 position in the Southland Conference Preseason Poll.
The Cardinals went 8-40 last season, including 4-22 during conference play.
Renee Hoffman returns after leading UIW in the circle with a team-best 5.06 ERA in 131.1 innings pitched during her freshman campaign. Hoffman also hit .239 at the plate for the Cardinals.
Brett Coleman also logged 117.2 innings in the circle last year and returns for her junior season.
Offensively, the Cardinals hit .206 in 2019.
Lexi Shaw scored 13 runs last season and hit .236 while starting 24 games.
Head coach Joe DiPietro is in his third year at Incarnate Word.
Series History Against Cardinals
Creighton and Incarnate Word have not met previously before Sunday's contest.
Starting On The Right Foot
Creighton has opened three of the past four seasons with only one win during the first weekend of the season.
The only year in which the Bluejays posted more than one win in the opening weekend of the season during the past four seasons was in 2018 before the team finished 28-15 and placed runner-up at the BIG EAST Tournament.
2019: 1-4 in Las Cruces, N.M.
2018: 3-2 in Las Vegas, Nev.
2017: 1-4 in Tempe, Ariz.
2016: 1-4 in Tempe, Ariz.
Creighton failed to finish in the top four of the BIG EAST standings and missed the postseason each of the other three years.
The last time Creighton finished with fewer than two losses in the opening weekend of the season was in 2012 when the Bluejays swept Arkansas-Pine Bluff during four games in Arkansas. Creighton started the 2012 season with seven consecutive victories.
The last time Creighton opened the year with a perfect showing at a tournament was in 2007 when Creighton went 5-0 at the UCA Spring Clash in Conway, Arkansas.
This year marks the first time the Bluejays are in Texas for the opening weekend since 2004 when Creighton played six games at the UNT Betlin Round-Up in Denton.
Bluejays Picked 4th In Preseason Poll
The Creighton softball team earned the fourth position with 30 points in the 2020 BIG EAST Softball Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Creighton finished 2019 with an 8-13 record in league play to place sixth (20-24 overall). The Bluejays return 13
letterwinners, including seven position players who started more than half of the team's BIG EAST schedule and two All-BIG EAST performers (senior Ashley Cantu and sophomore Kiara Mills).
Creighton also returns one pitcher who logged more than 30 innings during conference action. Seven freshmen and two sophomore transfers joined the program for the 2020 season.
For the first time since Creighton joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2014 season, this year's conference schedule will include three-day weekend's with one game on each day. The Bluejays' first BIG EAST series is set for March 20-22 at Seton Hall.
2020 BIG EAST Softball Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. DePaul (6) - 48
2. Villanova (2) - 43
3. St. John's - 34
4. Creighton - 30
5. Seton Hall - 25
6. Providence - 22
7. Butler - 14
8. Georgetown - 8
() - First-place votes
