Creighton Softball Downs Butler in BIG EAST Tournament Opener, 6-3

VILLANOVA, Pa. – Senior Sydra Seville went 3-for-4 and sophomore Sydney Potter broke the Creighton single season RBI record as the Bluejays softball team blew past Butler, 6-3, in the BIG EAST Tournament opener for its ninth consecutive victory on Wednesday afternoon at the Villanova Softball Complex in Villanova, Pa.
 
The win moved the Bluejays into the winners' bracket of the tournament, improving to 28-23 on the year, while Butler fell to 25-21 overall. Creighton now takes on top seeded St. John's on Thursday at 11 a.m. CT. 
 
Entering the tournament as one of the hottest hitting teams in the league, Creighton got to work early jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Seville, a First Team All-BIG EAST selection, opened the frame with a single through the left side before coming around to score on an RBI double into the right center gap from junior Lily West to put the Jays on the scoreboard. Following a wild pitch that moved West over to third, Potter lined an RBI single into left to extend the Jays lead to 2-0 and break Creighton's single season RBI record with her 59th RBI of the season. 
 
Butler cut the deficit in half in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly from Sydney Carter, but Creighton answered with a run in the home half of the frame to regain a 3-1 advantage. Junior Erika Perez laced a leadoff single up the middle and Seville followed with a single of her own before sophomore Ashten Pierson delivered a two-out RBI single to left to push the Jays lead out to 3-1. 
 
The Bluejays added to its lead with two additional runs in the fourth, using a leadoff single from Dalton and a four-pitch walk from Perez to put runners on first and second with no one out. A sacrifice bunt from Hannah Poole advanced the runners to second and third for Avery Barnard, who then delivered an RBI sacrifice fly to extend the Jays lead to 4-1. Seville then recorded her third hit of the afternoon, slapping an RBI single up the middle to open up a 5-1 Bluejay advantage.  
 
Creighton's lead grew to 6-1 in the bottom of the sixth as Perez doubled down the left field line scoring Dalton from first. Butler, however, answered with two runs in the top of the seventh to but the deficit to 6-3, before Kenzie Schopfer induced a game-ending groundout too short to secure the Bluejays third consecutive BIG EAST Tournament opening round victory. 

Seville guided the Bluejays offense with three hits, moving into a tie for second on Creighton's single season hits list. Perez added in a pair of hits of her own, while Dalton went 1-for-2 with two runs scored. Schopfer (8-6) completed her fifth complete game of the season, allowing three runs on eight hits with two strikeouts. 

Butler was paced by two hits apeice from Ella White and Makena Alexander, while Cate Lehner, who entered the day hitting .442 and owned seven multi-hit games in her last eight outings, had just her second 0-for-4 game of the season (March 1st). Katie Petran (7-6) suffered the loss allowing six runs on nine hits and a pair of walks in a complete game effort. 

The Bluejays will meet up with St. John's on Thursday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m. CT as Creighton will seek its first 10-game winning streak since March 13-26, 2014. That streak included CU's first two BIG EAST Conference games ever (vs. Butler).