Creighton Softball Clinches Spot in BIG EAST Tournament

OMAHA, Neb. – Creighton Softball overcame a three-run deficit in the 10th and junior Lily West delivered a walk-off single in the 11th to help the Bluejays to a 7-6 extra-innings win over Seton Hall on Saturday to secure a spot in next week’s BIG EAST Softball Championships Presented by JEEP.
 
The Bluejays improved to 26-23 on the year and 14-9 in BIG EAST play, capturing a top-four seed in the BIG EAST Tournament. Seton Hall, meanwhile, fell to 29-22 overall and 11-12 in league action with the loss. The Pirates will need a win on Sunday and a Providence loss to secure the final spot in the tournament field.
 
Trailing 6-3 and down to their final three outs in the 10th, the Bluejays offense sparked a three-run comeback to extend the contest. Senior Sydra Seville opened the frame with a double to center, before scoring three-pitches later on an RBI single up the middle from pinch-hitter Kenzie Nakasawa. Back-to-back fielder’s choices put runners on the corners for Dalton, who then delivered a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to one at 6-5. Junior Erika Perez then came through in the clutch, slapping an RBI single back up the middle to level the game at 6-6.
 
Creighton’s Kenzie Schopfer retired the side in order in the top of the 11th, setting up the Bluejays for its fourth walk-off win of the season. Sophomore Avery Barnard and Seville collected back-to-back singles to open the home half of the frame, before advancing to second and third on a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Ashten Pierson. West then delivered a game-winning RBI single into the left center gap, scoring Barnard from third to secure the Bluejays second consecutive trip to the BIG EAST Tournament.
 
The Bluejays opened the scoring, broke a scoreless tie in the fourth when Sydney Potter blasted a two-run shot over the right center field wall for her team-leading 15th home run of the season.
 
Seton Hall answered with a three-run home run from Olivia Gilbert in the top half of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead. The Pirates advantage was short lived as the Bluejays knotted things up at 3-3 in the home half of the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Perez.
 
Tied at 3-3 entering the 10th, Seton Hall used a leadoff single from Caroline Hobbs and a walk from Kelsey Carr to put runners on first and second with no outs. Schopfer then induced a popout to second, before Gilbert unleashed on her second three-run home run of the day to give the Pirates a 6-3 lead, setting up the Bluejays for a dramatic finish.

The Bluejays offense scored eight runs on a combined 12 hits. Seville led the way offensively with three hits, becoming just the seventh Bluejay in program history to record at least 70 hits in a single season. Seville is also now just one hit shy of tying the BIG EAST record for hits in a single BIG EAST season with 43. West and Perez each added in two hits of their own, while Potter went 1-for-1 with a home run, four walks and two RBI, tying the Creighton single season RBI record with her 58th RBI of the season and becoming the first Bluejay to walk four times in a game since Blair Lowe was walked four times against #20 Nebraska on April 2, 2014.  With eight runs scored on Saturday, Creighton also established a new program record with 297 runs scored this season.
 
Schopfer (7-6) picked up her seventh consecutive win in the circle with her fourth complete-game of the season. The senior from Savannah, Mo. became the first Bluejays to throw 11 or more innings in a single game since Shelli Mellegaard tossed 11.2 innings against Illinois State on May 12, 2001, while also becoming the 11th pitcher in the NCAA this season to throw at least 11 complete innings.
 
Gilbert led the Pirates offense with three hits and six RBI on Saturday, while setting Seton Hall’s single season RBI record with her 56th RBI of the season. Carr suffered the loss in the circle, allowing five runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings of relief.
 
Creighton and Seton Hall will wrap up the regular season and their three-game set on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. in the final contest at the historic CU Sports Complex.