The Creighton softball team is on a tear, winning seven of its last contests and outscoring its opponents by four or more runs in five of these victories. Their most recent victim? A St. John’s softball squad, led by pitcher Ana Serafinko. Serafinko entered the beginning of the April 17-18 weekend series as the second-ranked pitcher nationally, with 214 strikeouts, and led the Big East with a 2.70 ERA.
In a three-game, two-day, one doubleheader weekend series, the Bluejays emerged with their first sweep of St. John’s, completing a 2-0 victory on day one and following it up with 11-6 and 13-6 results on the second day.
Here are three takeaways from the Bluejays’ series victory:
- Freshman phenom Audrey Gilman served as a pitching anchor
Since coming to Creighton, freshman starting pitcher Audrey Gilman has made a splash. Her most recent outing against the Red Storm was no exception. Her collective 14 innings of pitching over two days yielded eight strikeouts and helped the Bluejays complete wins on the bookended games of the sweep.
In the first game, Gilman made her seventh complete-game appearance, striking out three batters, allowing just six hits and recording her second shutout of the season.
Her pitching performance set the tone for the entire series, allowing the Creighton batters to feel out Red Storm pitcher, Serafinko, while making those two Bluejay runs count by keeping St. John’s quiet on the defensive end. Gilman also showed veteran poise in that game, as she worked herself out of a third inning jam in the opener and proceeded to throw four innings that allowed just two runners to get to base.
Then, after a brief hiatus from the first game of the doubleheader the next day, Gilman came back to the mound that evening and got her 13th win of the season by striking out five batters in seven innings.
Gilman’s presence at the mound was critical for Creighton’s success against their Big East opponent, as the freshman made plays at critical times and demonstrated veteran coolness under pressure to help give the Bluejays the win.
- The youth movement showed underclassmen can help carry the load
The underclassmen’s success didn’t stop at the mound in this series. Underclassmen also ruled the day at other positions in Creighton’s weekend sweep.
Sophomore Tara Vandewater was effective at bat, going 5-for-7 and racking up nine RBI over the two doubleheader games, where Creighton outscored St. John’s 24-12 collectively. She also drilled a three-run home run in the second contest of the double header.
The nine RBI showing pushed Vandewater’s season-total RBI to 52, moving the sophomore into third place on the list of Creighton single season RBI.
Freshman Keegan Mayhue also stood out as a heavy impact player in the first game on Saturday. The freshman infielder changed the game in the third inning, hitting a three-run home run that allowed the Bluejays to retake the lead, 6-5. Her RBI bomb marked the 11th for the freshman, a team high.
The relief pitcher position also saw an underclassman shine, as sophomore Landrie Harris secured the 11-6 win for the Bluejays with 6.1 innings of pitching. She allowed just one run on six hits and delivered three strikeouts in the outing.
The moral of the story? Creighton’s underclassmen demonstrated their increasing comfortability at the plate and on the mound this series, making major plays for their team and turning heads while doing so. Having these types of clutch players so early into their Creighton careers is incredibly exciting for the present and future Bluejay rosters.
- The Bluejays have a ‘big inning’ mentality
After the first game of the series where the Bluejays secured the win with two runs in the third inning and pitching effectively sealed the game, one of the biggest takeaways for Creighton was its ability to extend the inning.
The Bluejays had four momentum-shifting innings with more than four runs over the weekend. The first came in the second game of the series, where Creighton trailed 5-1 heading into the third inning after St. John’s got off to a hot start. The Bluejay squad responded in big fashion, tying the game with five runs in the third and then going on to score four more runs in the fifth inning.
This mentality not only showed itself when Creighton’s got out of a jam in the second game and emerged victorious, but also when they made a splash in the next game from the first pitch.
In the second game of the doubleheader that afternoon, Creighton had a four-run first inning and followed it up with three more in the second. They ended the game with four more runs in the seventh inning, effectively demoralizing the Red Storm and allowing for a comfortable 13-6 victory.
The importance of this “big game” mentality lies in the fact that Creighton has won 55 of its 56 games when it has scored 10 or more runs. The Bluejays are also undefeated, 16-0, when they have run in at least eight runs in a game.
This means that the sweep at St. John’s wasn’t a fluke. The Bluejays just showed once again that when their batters can fall into rhythm and can turn a one run inning into a multi-run inning, the chances of success are significantly higher.
Now, with another set of road victories complete, the Bluejays will now look to continue their momentum this weekend, as the Connecticut Huskies play host to the Bluejays starting today at 6 p.m.