Creighton University
DePaul
Softball Meets League-Leading DePaul For First Road Games In Over A Month
4/16/2021 12:25:00 PM | Softball
Bluejays' last road game was on March 13 at Providence
Game Schedule
Games #1 & 2 • Saturday, April 17 • Creighton (13-8, 8-4 BIG EAST) at DePaul (16-9, 7-1 BIG EAST) • 12 p.m. (DH)
Game #3 • Sunday, April 18 • Creighton at DePaul • 12 p.m.
*All times listed are Central and subject to change
Up Next
Creighton hits the road for the first time since the weekend of March 12-13 as the Bluejays play a three-game series in Chicago against league-leading DePaul.
Follow The Game
Live video and live stats will be available for the weekend series.
Video and live stats will be provided by DePaulBlueDemons.com.
Links to the video and live stats will be available on the Creighton softball schedule page.
Scoring updates and infographics will be provided via Twitter at @BluejaySoftball.
Scouting Creighton (13-8)
The Bluejays have won six of their last seven games entering the weekend, including five of six in BIG EAST play.
Creighton played 10 consecutive home games from March 20-April 14 and finished 7-3 (6-3 BIG EAST).
Creighton ranks second in the conference with a .301 team batting average.
Sophomore Kailey Wilson leads the conference in slugging percentage (.855) and on-base percentage (.534). She is also second in the league for batting average (.452) and home runs (7) and fourth in RBIs (23).
Fifth-year senior lead-off hitter Ashley Cantu paces the BIG EAST with a .458 batting average and ranks fifth in the league with 33 hits. Cantu also leads the team with 15 runs scored.
Kiara Mills ranks second on the team and third in the conference with a .692 slugging percentage with six home runs and two doubles. The sophomore first baseman is also second on the team with 14 RBIs, while posting a .308 batting average with 16 hits and .438 on-base percentage (10 walks, 2 HBP).
Mikayla Santa Cruz owns a 3.94 ERA during 42 2/3 innings of work, while Parker Boyd leads the Creighton pitching staff with 68 innings of work and owns a 4.43 ERA. The graduate transfer has 64 strikeouts (5th in BIG EAST) including 23 looking, which ranks second the conference.
Bluejay pitchers have combined for a 4.19 ERA and 117 strikeouts during 137 innings of work.
Head coach Brent Vigness is in his 28th season at the helm of the Bluejays and owns 803 wins at Creighton, the most by any head coach across all of Creighton athletics.
Scouting DePaul
The Blue Demons enter the weekend series at the top of the BIG EAST standings.
DePaul owns a 7-1 league mark with wins against St. John's, UConn and Villanova.
Jessica Cothern leads the Blue Demons with a .347 batting average. The senior has 25 hits, including six doubles and four home runs to pace the team with a .597 slugging percentage.
Angela Scalzitti owns a team-high 26 hits, including eight doubles, three triples and a home run. She has also walked 15 times (t-4th in BIG EAST) and been hit by a pitch twice to lead DePaul and rank 10th in the conference with a .443 on-base percentage.
Kate Polucha leads DePaul in home runs (6 — t-5th in BIG EAST), RBIs (19 — t-6th in league) and is tied with Maranda Gutierrez for the team-lead and fourth in the conferenece with 18 runs scored.
Krista Dalgarn and Natalie Halvorson own the bulk of innings pitched. Dalgarn owns a team-best 3.69 ERA during 74 innings pitched and tallied 58 strikeouts (6th in BE) while Halvorson has logged 63 innings and claims a 4.00 ERA with 42 strikeouts and 21 walks.
Cothern, Scalzitti, Polucha, Gutierrez, Dalgaran and Halvorson are all part of DePaul's senior class which includes a total of eight student-athletes (also Pearl Barroso and Skylor Hilger).
Head coach Tracie Adix-Zins is in her third year at the helm of the Blue Demons.
Series History Against Blue Demons
DePaul leads the all-time series against Creighton, 17-9, including an 11-4 record during BIG EAST contests.
The Bluejays won two out of three games against the Blue Demons in Chicago during the 2019 season.
Because of inclement weather, all three games ended on the Sunday of the weekend. The first game was suspended in the bottom of the 5th inning before resuming the next day prior to a scheduled doubleheader.
Â
Last Time Out
Kiara Mills hits a go-ahead two-run home run and Jena Lawrence pitched her first career complete game as Creighton secured a 4-2 victory over UNO on Wednesday afternoon at the Creighton Sports Complex.
Mills launched a full-count two-run homer over the right-center field wall during the bottom of the third inning to give the Bluejays a 3-1 lead. Cayla Nielsen led off the home half of the third by being hit by the pitch before Mills tallied her sixth home run of the season.
Lawrence allowed five hits and two runs, while striking out four and walking two during her first complete-game effort and second win of the season. The freshman retired the final eight batters she faced.
Ashley Cantu paced the Bluejay offense with two hits.
Mills Listed on BE Weekly Honor Roll
Kiara Mills earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, the league announced on Monday afternoon.
During the Bluejays' three-game series against St. John's, Mills hit three home runs, tallied five RBIs and posted a team-best 13 total bases.
She also did not record an error during 21 chances at first base.
