Creighton Softball Falls to UConn In Big East Title Game
VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Creighton Softball team saw its season come to an end in the BIG EAST Tournament Championship game as the fourth-seeded Bluejays fell to the eight-time BIG EAST Champions and second-seeded Connecticut, 18-4, at the BIG EAST Championships presented by JEEP on Saturday evening.
The Bluejays concluded their season with a 30-25 overall record, posting the programs first back-to-back 30-win seasons since 2009 and 2010. UConn, meanwhile, improved to 35-17 on the year, claiming their eighth BIG EAST Tournament title and will represent the BIG EAST with the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Senior pitcher Kenzie Schopfer and senior outfielder each earned recognition on the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team.
Schopfer pitched a Championship-high 25 innings, posting three wins with 11 strikeouts, while Seville registered a Creighton Single BIG EAST Tournament record with eight hits and four runs scored on a .471 batting average.
Following a scoreless first, UConn plated 12 runs on six hits to take command of the contest. The Huskies added six additional runs in the third to set a BIG EAST Tournament Championship runs scored record.
Creighton got two runs back in the top of the fourth as junior Lily West beat out an infield single before sophomore Kaelan Schultz belted her 14th home run of the season to put the Jays on the scoreboard. The Bluejays then loaded the bases with a UConn fielding error, a single from Hannah Poole and a walk from Ella Dalton before an RBI groundout from pinch-hitter Avery Barnard pushed across the Jays third run of the frame.
The Bluejays would tack on a run in the fifth on an RBI single from Erika Perez, but it wasn't enough as UConn claimed the victory.
CU was led offensively by Schultz, who blasted her 14th home run of the season, while Schopfer suffered the loss in the circle, falling to 10-8 overall. Creighton ended the year with a .303 team-batting average, the fourth-best mark in program history. The Bluejay's scored 320 runs this season, establishing a new program record.
Reaching new heights, Creighton is set to open a new state-of-the-art field next fall in Omaha.