Creighton University
Omaha
Softball Matches Up With Omaha At Connie Claussen Field On Wednesday
3/21/2023 4:00:00 PM | Softball
Up Next
Creighton (13-14) travels down Dodge Street to face crosstown foe Omaha in a midweek battle at Connie Claussen Field on Wednesday, March 22 at 5 p.m.
Game Schedule
Wednesday, March 21 • Creighton (13-14) at Omaha (9-23) • 5 p.m. • Connie Claussen Field
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEOÂ | CU NOTES (PDF)
Â
Follow The Games
Live video and live stats will be available for Wednesday's contest.Â
Video and live stats will be provided on omavs.com.Â
Links to the video and live stats can be found on the Creighton Softball schedule page on GoCreighton.com.Â
Scoring updates and infographics will be provided via Twitter at @BluejaySoftball.
Bluejays not Blue Jays
Creighton's mascot is the Bluejays or Bluejay, one word. Conversely the MLB Toronto team is the Blue Jays.
Scouting Creighton (13-14)
The Bluejays enter Wednesday's game with a 13-14 overall record after being swept by Villanova in the BIG EAST opener.Â
Creighton had won 10 of its last 13 games, including a pair of wins over Kansas City in the Bluejays home opener on March 15, before going 0-3 at Villanova.
Creighton ranks second in the BIG EAST with a .291 team batting average but leads the way in slugging percentage (.444), doubles (44), home runs (22), runs scored (132) and fielding percentage (.968).
Junior lead-off hitter Cayla Nielsen paces the Bluejays and the BIG EAST with a .418 batting average while ranking tied for second with 28 total hits. Her eight doubles this season ranks second on the team and second in the BIG EAST behind fellow classmate Alyssa Gappa.Â
Gappa leads the league and ranks 16th nationally with 10 doubles, while pacing the BIG EAST with seven home runs. She is one of five Bluejays to hold a batting average over .330, ranking third on the team with a .338 average.Â
Junior Madeline Vejvoda owns a .337 batting average while tying for the team-lead with 28 hits and limiting her strikeouts to just three on the season. Vejvoda ranks 31st nationally as one of the toughest to strikeout. She also has scored a team-high 19 runs this season.Â
Freshman Lily West also holds a .329 batting average and a team-best 28 hits, while senior Saren Croker has complied a .364 batting average this season.Â
Junior Payton Akers (4-4) and freshman Natalia Puchino (7-4) have been a force in the circle for the Bluejays this season. Akers paces the pitching staff with a 2.15 ERA and a team-high 49 strikeouts in 42.1 innings, while Puchino, the reigning BIG EAST Freshman of the Week, follows closely behind with a 2.28 ERA in 64.1 innings of work with 45 strikeouts. Sophomore Alexis Wiggins (2-4) has also provided depth, holding a 3.52 ERA with 42 in 47.2 innings of work this season.
As a staff, Creighton holds a 2.86 ERA, the second-best ERA in the BIG EAST, with a BIG EAST best 142 strikeouts in 171.1 innings of work.
The Bluejays return 12 letterwinners from last year's squad, while 10 newcomers enter the program with first year head coach Krista Wood.Â
Creighton was picked fifth in the preseason BIG EAST Coaches poll.Â
Scouting Omaha (13-8)
Omaha heads into Wednesday's tilt sporting a 13-8 overall record after dropping a pair of contests to in-state rival Nebraska last week.Â
2022 First Team All-Summit League pitcher Kamryn Meyer paces the Omaha pitching staff with 95 strikeouts in 67 innings of work, while owning a 1.36 ERA.Â
Junior Sydney Nuismer has also provided 55.1 innings of support, while recording a 3.80 ERA with 29 strikeouts. As a staff, Omaha owns a 2.38 ERA with 133 strikeouts in 141.1 innings of work.
Senior Lynsey Tucker leads the team with 24 hits and owns a .368 batting average, while slugger Rachel Weber is hitting .343, the only other Maverick hitting over .300, with a team best eight doubles, four home runs and 20 RBI.Â
Omaha, as a team, is hitting .250 this season with 137 hits, 40 doubles and 87 runs scored for a 4.14 runs per game average.
Omaha was picked to finish second in the Summit League Preseason Coaches' Poll as head coach Mike Heard is in his second season with the Mavericks.
Series History Against MavericksÂ
Creighton leads the all-time series against Omaha, 29-11.
The Mavericks have won the last two meetings, after capturing a 9-3 win at the Creighton Sports Complex last season. The Bluejays are 6-4 all-time in road game against the Mavericks, including wins in five of the last six match ups at UNO.Â
Krista Wood's Success Against The MavericksÂ
Head coach Krista Wood is 23-10 all-time against Omaha as a head coach.Â
Wood's complied a 19-8 record against the Mavericks while at SDSU, which including wins in 13 of her last 15 meetings. She also recorded a 4-10 record against Omaha while serving as the head coach at Wayne State College.Â
Wood's Returns To Alma MaterÂ
One of the greatest pitchers in Omaha softball history, makes her return to field on Wednesday when head coach Krista Wood takes the Bluejays across town to battle her alma mater Omaha.Â
Wood's, a 2003 graduate of Omaha, helped the Mavericks to the NCAA Division II national championship in 2001 as a sophomore and still holds Maverick career records in wins (106), appearances (147), games started (124), complete games (110) and innings pitched (858.1).Â
She also owns or shares single-season school records in win (32 in 2002), ERA (0.76 in 2001), saves (5 in 2003) and shutouts (15 in 2022) and was recently inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame in 2020.Â
Home-Grown Talent
A combined 18 players on Wednesday's rosters hail from the state of Nebraska. Creighton has eight players from Nebraska, while Omaha has 10. Of the 18, nine are from the Omaha metro area.Â
Puchino Nabs BIG EAST Freshman of the Week HonorsÂ
Freshman Natalia Puchino was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Monday, March 20, after tossing the first no-hitter of her career and guiding the Bluejays to a pair of victory over Kansas City.
Puchino struck out a season-high six batters while became the first Bluejay freshman to throw a no-hitter since Tara Oltman did not allow a hit in her first collegiate start in 2007.Â
The Milliken, Colorado native's no-hitter against Kansas City was the Bluejays 26th no-hitter since 1994 and was the first 7-inning complete-game no-hitter since Micaela Whitney fired a complete-game no-hitter against Seton Hall on April 2, 2016.
Nielsen Nearly Hits For Cycle
Junior Cayla Nielsen nearly became the first Bluejay ever to hit for the cycle, finished the second game of a doubleheader against Villanova 3-for-4 with a single, double, and home run.Â
Vejvoda Tough To Punch Out
Junior Madeline Vejvoda has 96 plate appearances (83 AB, 9 BB, 4 SH) this season and has struck out just three times.
She ranks tied for 31st nationally in being the toughest to strikeout, doing so just once every 27.7 "official" at bats.Â
