Friday, May 8
Rosemont, Ill.
4:00 PM
Creighton University
9
vs
0
#4 Butler
Photo by: Patrick Davis
Softball Advances to Third Straight BIG EAST Finals with 9-0 Run-Rule Victory Over Butler
5/8/2026 7:16:00 PM | Softball
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Freshman Keegan Mayhue launched a three-run walk-off home run and freshman Audrey Gilman fired a complete-game shutout to guide the Creighton Softball team to a 9-0 run-rule victory over fourth-seeded Butler on Friday afternoon in its second elimination game of the 2026 BIG EAST Softball Championships, Presented by Jeep.
Creighton (31-26) advances to the BIG EAST Title game for the third consecutive season, where they will face second-seeded UConn at 1 p.m. Central in a game that will be aired on ESPN+. Creighton will need to take down the Huskies twice on Saturday to advance to the program's 13th NCAA Tournament in program history.
For the third game in a row, the Jays struck first with a pair of runs in the first inning as Mayhue and freshman Zoey Greenwood delivered back-to-back RBI doubles to give Creighton a 2-0 lead.
After two scoreless frames, Creighton got back to work plating three on four hits in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend their lead to 5-0. Junior Avery Barnard got the Jays going with an RBI single to left center and came around to score two batters later on an RBI single from classmate Kaelan Schultz. Sophomore Tara Vandewater would then follow with an RBI double into the right centerfield gap to move the Bluejays advantage to 5-0.
CU pushed the lead to 6-0 in the home half of the sixth using a safety squeeze from Vandewater before Mayhue, the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, unleashed on her team-leading 13th home run of the season to cap off the 9-0 run-rule victory.
The Bluejays finished the contest with 10 combined hits, led by Mayhue with three hits and four RBI, with both Schultz and Barnard each contributing two hits apiece.
Gilman (16-9) picked up the victory in the circle, firing her third complete-game shutout of the season.
Butler, which upset top-seed Providence in the first round on Thursday, lost both games on Friday and ended its season with a 25-21 overall record.
NOTES: Creighton will play in the BIG EAST Tournament Finals for the third straight year and for the fourth time in five trips to the event … Creighton (BIG EAST), Omaha (Summit League) and Nebraska (Big Ten), the three Division I teams in Nebraska, will all play for their conference titles on Saturday afternoon … Creighton improved to 9-7 in the BIG EAST Tournament, which includes an 8-5 mark under head coach Krista Wood … Creighton is now 5-3 all-time at the BIG EAST Tournament as a No. 2 seed … Creighton improved to 22-13 all-time against Butler, which includes a 3-0 mark in the BIG EAST … Senior Lily West played in her 223rd career game, good for the fifth-most in CU history and the most by a Bluejay since Beth Herod's 233 from 1989-93 … Lily West drew a walk in the first inning, extending her on-base streak to a career-high 20 straight games … Kaelan Schultz collected a pair of hits on Friday, pushing her hits streak to 12 consecutive contests … Zoey Greenwood moved into second on Creighton's freshman hits leaderboard with her 61st hits on Friday and is now three hits behind Wendy Moon's freshman record of 64 hits from 1991 … Keegan Mayhue blasted her team-leading 13th home run of the season, moving into a tie with Renae Sinkler, Lauren Cisneros and Stacey Rybar for 10th on CU's singles season home run list. Mayhue's 13 home runs are also the second most by a Bluejay freshman in program history and now two behind Amy Baker's freshman record of 15 homers in 2010 … Mayhue's walk-off home run was the Bluejays 50th home run of the season, the fifth-most in a single season in program history. It also marked the first time in program history, CU has hit 50 or more home runs in back-to-back seasons … Keegan Mayhue collected her fifth game with four or more RBI this season, moving into fourth on Creighton's single season RBI list with 49 RBI this season …. Tara Vandewater drove in two runs on Friday, pushing her season total to 58 and is not tied with Renae Sinkler O'Gorman for second on Creighton's single season RBI leaderboard … Tara Vandewater also moved into a tie for fifth on Creighton's single season runs scored list with 45 runs scored this season … Creighton was outscored 66-33 in the first inning during the regular-season, but has outscored its three opponents 6-1 in the opening frame in the BIG EAST Tournament ... Creighton upped its single-season school-record totals to 357 runs, 328 RBI and 96 doubles … Creighton is now 5-2 all-time in BIG EAST Tournament play when scoring in the first inning.
Creighton (31-26) advances to the BIG EAST Title game for the third consecutive season, where they will face second-seeded UConn at 1 p.m. Central in a game that will be aired on ESPN+. Creighton will need to take down the Huskies twice on Saturday to advance to the program's 13th NCAA Tournament in program history.
For the third game in a row, the Jays struck first with a pair of runs in the first inning as Mayhue and freshman Zoey Greenwood delivered back-to-back RBI doubles to give Creighton a 2-0 lead.
After two scoreless frames, Creighton got back to work plating three on four hits in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend their lead to 5-0. Junior Avery Barnard got the Jays going with an RBI single to left center and came around to score two batters later on an RBI single from classmate Kaelan Schultz. Sophomore Tara Vandewater would then follow with an RBI double into the right centerfield gap to move the Bluejays advantage to 5-0.
CU pushed the lead to 6-0 in the home half of the sixth using a safety squeeze from Vandewater before Mayhue, the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, unleashed on her team-leading 13th home run of the season to cap off the 9-0 run-rule victory.
The Bluejays finished the contest with 10 combined hits, led by Mayhue with three hits and four RBI, with both Schultz and Barnard each contributing two hits apiece.
Gilman (16-9) picked up the victory in the circle, firing her third complete-game shutout of the season.
Butler, which upset top-seed Providence in the first round on Thursday, lost both games on Friday and ended its season with a 25-21 overall record.
NOTES: Creighton will play in the BIG EAST Tournament Finals for the third straight year and for the fourth time in five trips to the event … Creighton (BIG EAST), Omaha (Summit League) and Nebraska (Big Ten), the three Division I teams in Nebraska, will all play for their conference titles on Saturday afternoon … Creighton improved to 9-7 in the BIG EAST Tournament, which includes an 8-5 mark under head coach Krista Wood … Creighton is now 5-3 all-time at the BIG EAST Tournament as a No. 2 seed … Creighton improved to 22-13 all-time against Butler, which includes a 3-0 mark in the BIG EAST … Senior Lily West played in her 223rd career game, good for the fifth-most in CU history and the most by a Bluejay since Beth Herod's 233 from 1989-93 … Lily West drew a walk in the first inning, extending her on-base streak to a career-high 20 straight games … Kaelan Schultz collected a pair of hits on Friday, pushing her hits streak to 12 consecutive contests … Zoey Greenwood moved into second on Creighton's freshman hits leaderboard with her 61st hits on Friday and is now three hits behind Wendy Moon's freshman record of 64 hits from 1991 … Keegan Mayhue blasted her team-leading 13th home run of the season, moving into a tie with Renae Sinkler, Lauren Cisneros and Stacey Rybar for 10th on CU's singles season home run list. Mayhue's 13 home runs are also the second most by a Bluejay freshman in program history and now two behind Amy Baker's freshman record of 15 homers in 2010 … Mayhue's walk-off home run was the Bluejays 50th home run of the season, the fifth-most in a single season in program history. It also marked the first time in program history, CU has hit 50 or more home runs in back-to-back seasons … Keegan Mayhue collected her fifth game with four or more RBI this season, moving into fourth on Creighton's single season RBI list with 49 RBI this season …. Tara Vandewater drove in two runs on Friday, pushing her season total to 58 and is not tied with Renae Sinkler O'Gorman for second on Creighton's single season RBI leaderboard … Tara Vandewater also moved into a tie for fifth on Creighton's single season runs scored list with 45 runs scored this season … Creighton was outscored 66-33 in the first inning during the regular-season, but has outscored its three opponents 6-1 in the opening frame in the BIG EAST Tournament ... Creighton upped its single-season school-record totals to 357 runs, 328 RBI and 96 doubles … Creighton is now 5-2 all-time in BIG EAST Tournament play when scoring in the first inning.
Players Mentioned
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