Creighton University
#2 Connecticut
Softball Takes On UConn in BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals on Friday
5/8/2025 8:58:00 PM | Softball
Friday, May 9 • 4:30 p.m. CT • Villanova, Pa. • Villanova Softball Complex
LIVE VIDEOÂ |Â LIVE STATSÂ |Â CU NOTES
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 • Coming off an 5-3 come-from-behind upset win over top-seeded St. John's on Thursday, fourth-seeded Creighton (29-23) takes on second-seeded Connecticut (33-17) at 11 a.m. Central on Friday morning at the Villanova Softball Complex in Villanova, Pa.Â
    At stake ... a spot in Saturday's BIG EAST Tournament Championship game.Â
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 • Matt Janus and Gigi Speer will call the game on FS2 and FoxSports.com/live, while live stats will be available via Statbroadcast.Â
Live stats and live video links for this weekend's tournament can be found on the Creighton Softball schedule on GoCreighton.com.
Scoring updates and infographics will be provided via Twitter at @BluejaySoftball.
 • Creighton and Connecticut have met 18 times previously, with the Huskies holding an 13-5 edge in the all-time series.
The Bluejays won the first two meeting in the series, but had dropped nine consecutive contests before claiming a 2-1 extra-innings win in Storrs and a 10-6 win in the BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals last season.Â
The Huskies took two of three from the Bluejays earlier this season in Omaha, including an 22-18 slugfest in the NCAA's highest scoring games this season.
Creighton is 1-1 against UConn in the BIG EAST Tournament, using quality pitching from Brooklyn Patchen, Brooke Shifflett and Kenzie Schopfer to upset the Huskies, 10-6 in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament last May.Â
Head coach Krista Wood is 3-8 all-time against Connecticut as a head coach.Â
 • With a win
Creighton would improve to 30-23, capturing the Bluejays 25th 30-win season in program history and its first back-to-back 30-win season since 2009 and 2010.Â
Creighton would advance to its third BIG EAST Tournament final, set for Saturday at 3 p.m. Central.
Creighton would improve to 3-1 all-time at the BIG EAST Tournament as a No. 4 seed.Â
Creighton would improve to 7-4 all-time at the BIG EAST Tournament.Â
Creighton would improve to 2-1 in the BIG EAST Tournament against Connecticut, having defeating the Huskies 10-6 in the 2024 semifinals.
Creighton would improve to 3-0 in a conference tournament for the first time since 2010, when the Bluejays claimed its sixth Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Title.Â
 • Thursday's victory over St. John's captured the Bluejays first 2-0 start in a conference tournament since the Bluejays went 4-0, claiming its sixth Missouri Valley Conference title in 2010. That was also the last time CU won a conference tournament.Â
In fact, each of the last six times the Jays have started 2-0 in a league tournament (1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010 ... all in the MVC), it has gone on to win the title.Â
 • Creighton has now won 24 of its last 33 conference tournament games decided by two runs or less, dating back to 2000. The Bluejays are 3-0 in such games in the BIG EAST Tournament.Â
 • Head coach Krista Wood improved to 6-2 in the BIG EAST Tournament, following Thursday's 5-3 victory over St. John's. Wood's six wins are the third-most amongst the active coaches in the BIG EAST, trailing only Villanova's Bridget Orchard (13 - 7 Years) and UConn's Laura Valentino (8 - 6 years).Â
 • While Creighton is searching for its first BIG EAST Tournament title, the Bluejays did win six Missouri Valley Conference Tournament titles (1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010). CU is 0-2 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament finals.Â
Creighton owns 12 BIG EAST Tournament titles in 12 years as a league member. Baseball (2019) and Men's Soccer (2022) both have won one, while Volleyball (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) has 10 titles and is Creighton's only women's program to win a BIG EAST Tournament.
• Creighton's 5-3 win on Thursday marked the Bluejays 13th come-from-behind victory of the season. The Jays trailed 3-0 after the first and 3-2 after five, before storming back for the 5-3 win.Â
The Bluejays victory also marked the fifth comeback victory when trailing by three or more runs this spring and its longest comeback win in the BIG EAST Tournament since overcoming a 4-0 deficit to defeat UConn, 10-6, in last year's BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals.Â
• Creighton won its 10th consecutive game on Thursday, matching its longest winning streak since 2014 when the Bluejays won 10 straight contests between March 13 and March 26, 2014.
The last time Creighton won 11 in a row was in 2008 when the Jays claimed 11 victories between March 18 and March 30, 2008.Â
• Creighton improved to 5-0 in the month of May on Thursday, marking its first five-game winning streak in May since 2004.Â
With a win on Friday, Creighton will have win six games in the month of May for the first time since 1999.Â
Creighton went on to win their league tournament title in both 2004 and 1999 when have a five and six-game winning streak.Â
• Senior outfielder Sydra Seville recorded her 76th hit of the season with a single in the third inning on Thursday, tying Bluejay Hall of Famer Christy Lunceford for the most in in a single season in program history.Â
Seville's 76 hits rank second-most in the BIG EAST this season, one hit behind Butler's Cate Lehner's 77 hits.Â
Additionally, Seville is just the seventh Bluejay in program history to record at least 70 hits in a season.Â
• Sydra Seville scored her 44th run of the season in the third inning on Thursday, tying her with Allie Matthewson from 2012 for fifth-most runs scored in CU single-season history.Â
Seville is now one run away from moving into a tie for fourth with Ashley Cantu (44) on Creighton's single season runs scored top 10 list.
• Sophomore Kaelan Schultz blasted a game-tying solo home run in the sixth inning of Thursday, recording her 13th home run of the season and moving into a tie for ninth on Creighton's single season home run list.Â
Schultz is now two home runs shy of moving into a tie for seventh with Sydney Potter (2025) and Amy Baker (2010) on the single season home run top 10 record board.Â
• Senior Kenzie Schopfer won her ninth decision in a row on Thursday after starting the season 0-6. She is the first CU pitcher to win nine straight decisions since Bluejay Hall of Famer Tara Oltman recorded nine straight decisions between March 14-April 1, 2009.
Since moving back into the starting rotation on April 4th, Schopfer has recorded an 9-0 record with a 3.02 ERA and 33 strikeouts in a team-high 69.1 innings of work.Â
• Kenzie Schopfer won her ninth straight decision to improve to 9-6 on the season, authoring her second complete game in as many days.Â
She is the first Bluejay to a complete game in two straight games since Natalia Puchino threw complete games in four straight games from May 5- May 10, 2024.Â
Schopfer has not walked a batter in any of her 17 innings over three starts this year against the Red Storm.
• Junior Lily West extended her hitting streak to a career-long 10 games in a row with a single in the seventh inning on Thursday, marking the teams longest hit streak since Sydra Seville recorded a Bluejay best 18-game hitting streak earlier this season.Â
During her 10-game hitting streak, the Choctaw, Okla. native is hitting .316 with 12 hits, 10 RBI and a team-high 11 runs scored.
• Junior catcher Lily West has been a fixture in the Bluejays starting lineup since stepping foot on campus in 2023 and is reaching uncharted territory as she has started in all 163 games of her Bluejay career.Â
Her 163 consecutive starts are the longest starting streak by a Bluejay since Madeline Vejvoda started the final 174 games in her Bluejay career from 2020- 2024. Â
• Erika Perez reached safely for the 12th straight game, while Sydney Potter and Sydra Seville both did for the 10th consecutive game.Â
• Creighton improved to 399-58 when scoring five or more runs, following the Bluejays 5-3 win over St. John's on Thursday.Â
Creighton is also 183-40 when scoring five or more runs in a game since joining the BIG EAST in 2014 and own an 24-4 record this season when scoring five or more runs.Â
Additionally, Creighton had won 35 straight games when scoring 10+ runs, before March 28th setback to the Huskies. Overall, the Bluejays are 10-1 this season when scoring 10 or more runs.Â
Milestone Watch
Upcoming Creighton milestones include...
- Sydra Seville (76) is tied with Bluejay Hall of Famer Christy Lunceford (1997) for the most hits in a single season in program history and will establish a new single season hits record with a hit on Friday.
- Sydra Seville has scored 44 runs this season and is one run away from moving into a tie for fourth with Ashley Cantu (45) on Creighton's single season runs scored top 10 list.
- Sydra Seville has stolen 20 bases this season, three stolen bases shy of tying Shelly Esser (1993) for sixth on the single season stolen base record lists.
- Sydney Potter has record 92 career RBI and is now nine shy of collecting 100 RBI in her Bluejay Career.Â
- Lily West (41) is one RBI shy of entering Creighton's single season RBI top 10 list.
 - Lily West has scored 96 runs in her career and now is four runs shy of collecting 100 runs scored in her Bluejay career.Â
- Ashten Pierson has stolen 16 bases this season, one shy of moving into the top 10 for stolen bases in a single season.
- Ashten Pierson ranks third on Creighton's all-time single season hit by pitch record list with 11 hit by pitches this season. She is one shy of moving into a tie with Jen Daro (12) for second in a single season.Â
- Ashten Pierson has been hit by a pitch 16 times in her career and is now two hit by pitches shy of tying Liz McKewon for ninth on Creighton's career hit by pitch record list.
- Creighton's 51 home runs this season are tied for the fourth-most in a season in school history and just five homers shy of tying the 56 home runs hits during the 2012 for third-most in a single season in school history.Â
- Lily West owns 26 career doubles and is now eight shy of cracking the Creighton's career doubles top 10 list.Â
