Creighton Softball Splits DH With St. John’s

OMAHA, Neb. – A three-run home run from Kaelan Schultz and solid pitching helped the Creighton softball team earn a doubleheader split on Friday. Creighton dropped the series opener, 1-0 in 13 innings in the resumption of a suspended game before taking game two 6-4 at the Creighton Sports Complex in Omaha, Neb. 

Following Friday’s results, Creighton is now 19-21 (9-8 BIG EAST) on the year, while St. John’s moved to 33-13-1 (13-4 BIG EAST) overall. 

Creighton and St. John’s will meet in the rubber match on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m.

Game 1: St. John’s 1, Creighton 0 (13 innings)
In a game suspended by lightning in the top of the 10th inning and scoreless on Thursday, St. John’s used 16 strikeouts and an RBI single from Elanna Lysiak in the top half of the 13th inning to capture a 1-0 victory. 

Friday’s series opener against St. John’s marked the longest game by innings since the Bluejays edged out Villanova 6-4 in 16 innings on April 5, 2014. It was also the first Creighton softball game to be scoreless through 12 innings since Creighton defeated Utah 1-0 in an NCAA record 31 innings on May 11, 1991.

Bluejay starting pitcher senior Kenzie Schopfer struck out a season-high tying seven batters in 8.0 scoreless innings on Thursday, before sophomore Brooklyn Patchen allowed one runs on three hits with four strikeouts in 5.0 innings of relief but suffered her hard-luck loss. 

Sydra Seville, Lily West, Sydney Potter and Erika Perez combined for eight of the Bluejays 10 hits, as both Lynn Davis and Avery Barnard each collected a pinch-hit base knock. 

St. John’s Loreley Francia fired 5.1 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts, before giving way to Ana Serafinko, who struck out nine and allowed just four base hits in 7.2 shutout innings to earn her 16th win of the season. 
 
Game 2: Creighton 6, St. John’s 4
Game two saw Creighton pick up its 19th victory of the season with a come-from-behind 6-4 win to even the series with the Red Storm at 1-1. 

St. John’s stormed out of the gates, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a sacrifice fly to right from Anese Thompson. 

After a scoreless frame, Creighton’s Hannah Poole lined a Senior Day solo shot over the right field fence to level the contest at 1-1 in the bottom of the second. 
The Johnnies would answer with a leadoff home run from London Jarrard in the top of the third to regain a 2-1 lead, before the Jays plated three in the bottom half of the frame to take a 4-2 advantage. 

Seville led off the inning racing out an infield single, before Pierson was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs. West moved the runners over to second and third with a sacrifice bunt, before sophomore Kaelan Schultz blasted her eighth home runs of the season to give the Jays a 4-2 lead and chase Red Storm starter Francia.

St. John’s, however, would open the fourth with back-to-back doubles from Melanie Santos and Natalie Casto cut the deficit to 4-3. Jarrard then delivered an RBI single into the right center field gap to knot things up at 4-4. 

Following a scoreless fifth, Creighton regained a two-run lead using back-to-back bunt singles from Seville and Pierson to open the frame. A second sacrifice bunt from West moved Seville and Pierson over to second and third, before a Schultz sacrifice fly gave CU a 5-4 lead. Pierson would then tack on an insurance run, scoring on a Red Storm wild pitch to make it 6-4 Creighton.

The Johnnies, would not go down quietly, loading the bases on back-to-back single from Cassidy Stouffer and Serafinko, as well as a Bluejay fielding error. The Bluejays, however, worked out of the jam, as a heads-up double play from Perez and a line drive snag from Pierson secured the 6-4 victory for the Bluejays. 

Seville led the Bluejay offense with a 4-for-4 showing, while Schultz drove in a season-high tying four runs on a three-run home run and a sacrifice fly. Patchen earned her seventh win of the season, scattering eight hits and two runs in 5.0 innings of work.