Photo by: Erin McGonigal
Covering The Bases With Erin McGonigal
4/11/2016 7:15:00 PM | Softball
The latest on Creighton Softball, a blog by Erin McGonigal
Thoughout the 2016 softball season, senior Erin McGonigal will be blogging for GoCreighton.com.
April 11, 2016
Hello Creighton Softball fans,
I hope you all enjoyed my last edition of Covering the Bases. I want to thank you for your tremendous support these first two conference home series! We feed off your energy and enthusiasm and will certainly need that heading into the final stretch. Let's catch up with what's been going on these past two weeks.
Conference play is in full swing and we really couldn't be more pleased with the way the first seven games have gone. A 6-1 record and sole possession of second place in the league is right where we need to be heading into the final four series of the year.
Two weekends ago, our team took our first BIG EAST road trip of the season to South Orange, N.J. to take on the Seton Hall Pirates. Historically (the past two seasons), Seton Hall has always provided a tough matchup for us. The Pirates are typically scrappy and good defenders that find ways to scratch across runs. They showed nothing different this time around. Getting the 1-1 series split couldn't have come more difficult because they were relentless all 14 innings on both sides of the ball. Micaela Whitney recorded her second no-hitter in her Bluejay career in game two which gave us great momentum in the games to follow.
Shoutout to @MicaelaWithaK for her no-hitter today against Seton Hall ????#REDEMPTION
— Valentina (@valebert20) April 3, 2016
Even though we didn't have time to explore New York City while we were there, we certainly found entertainment in the things we did do to occupy our free time away from the field. This was a few of our teammates' first time visiting the East Coast, so it definitely opened their eyes to what the people were like and the way they live.
It all started on Friday when we flew into Newark after a longer than anticipated delay at Chicago Midway. Flying into Newark was neat as many of us could see New York City in the distance. We also passed directly over MetLife Stadium, the home of the New York Jets and Giants.
Friday evening we completed a short workout at Seton Hall to check out its new all-turf field, a very different surface than what many of us played on when we went there two years ago. Following practice we hit up a small local Italian restaurant to get a taste of New York style pizza and pasta. We also had the privilege to be serenaded by the lovely piano playing of Sam Crowley.
Saturday night following the doubleheader, we enjoyed a nice dinner at a local restaurant to unwind from a long day at the ballpark. We were able to sit back, enjoy the Final Four and mentally prepare ourselves for something we had all been looking forward to: a piece of chocolate cake from Carlo's Bakery as featured on the TV show, Cake Boss. (Huge shout out to Jen Daro and her parents for making this happen!)
It's safe to say that was the best cake any of us had ever eaten and the most fun any one had ever had trying to find plates, napkins, forks and a knife to a piece of cake. Down the hall a wedding was taking place and many of us had ideas to go crash it.
Our last day of the trip was a downer when we found out the Sunday rubber match was canceled due to the cold weather. We spent all day waiting to see if we were going to make it home before finding out the exciting news that we were. Overall, our team took a step forward on this trip. We competed hard to get the split, which gave us momentum going forward to help propel us to sweep over Georgetown.
The Georgetown series was a must-win series because we know our toughest conference games are still ahead of us. We knocked in 26 total runs on the weekend with our offense feeling good going into midweek games this week against Drake and Iowa State. Our energy was solid all three games as we picked up our first three-game conference sweep of the season.
The smile explains it all???? Come out tomorrow to watch us take on Georgetown at 12 and 2pm or Sunday at 11am ?? pic.twitter.com/gwv25HZRDP
— T??SH (@Tash_Coffiel) April 8, 2016
CU @ the Field. We're taking on Georgetown for the sweep at 11:00. #GoJays
— Micaela (@MicaelaWithaK) April 10, 2016
Five things we learned about our team in the Seton Hall and Georgetown series:
- One of the many reasons we love gamedays…
One of the many reasons we love game day, half-a-lap ?????? #GameDay
— T??SH (@Tash_Coffiel) April 10, 2016
- Wins in conference are never easy. We will take them any way we can.
- Running through the airport to catch a flight is never ideal, but when we do, we turn on the turbos.
Round two of sprinting through the Chicago airport ??
— Allie Reinhart (@AllieReinhart) April 4, 2016
- We gained one step closer to the ultimate goal of #REDEMPTION
I hope you all enjoyed this edition of Covering the Bases! I want to thank you all again for your continued support, we will need you this weekend when we take on Villanova at home. CU there! Take care and go Jays!
Yours truly,
Erin McGonigal
March 31, 2016
Hello Creighton Softball fans,
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter with your families, because I know we sure did! We were able to enjoy a little time off before the last and most important stretch of our season, BIG EAST Conference play, kicks in full gear.
Since returning from our trip to Florida, we have hosted five home games. These five games included our first conference sweep of the season (even though the last game was canceled due to weather), rematches against South Dakota State and a home opener against a Power 5 conference team. After four straight weeks on the road, we couldn't have been more excited to finally play in our home stadium to show our fans how much we have improved since the last time we took the field in the fall.
ITS GAMEDAY AT CU ???
— Finesse ? (@LeahM_10) March 16, 2016
HOME OPENER TODAY @ 4 BE THERE OR BE ??
— Anna O'Gorman (@folow2bea_fANNA) March 16, 2016
Home opener against KU @ 4:00 this afternoon. CU there ?? @ Kitty… https://t.co/9fmSfgn8oU
— Micaela (@MicaelaWithaK) March 16, 2016
Kansas was a great test, a strong opponent to open up at home with and a good measuring stick to see what we needed to work on before the conference home opener the following week.
Immediately following the Kansas game, our focus shifted fully towards our conference season starting with our three-game series with the Providence Friars. We have had several meetings throughout the year to discuss not only our season goals, but more specifically what we want to accomplish in the BIG EAST Conference, especially after falling short of the tournament last season. Coach always says, "We need to win every home game and win every series and you guys will be in the hunt (for a conference tournament bid)."
Kelsey Allender reminded us the night before the Wednesday doubleheader that the Friars are the reason we missed the BIG EAST Conference tournament last year, so how ironic that we open up our conference season with that same team this year? Our mindset going into that series was as a good as it has been all season and our play on the field certainly reflected that as we plated 25 runs over two games. Jumping on pitchers early in the games and big performances from several people up and down the lineup were the key to our success. Even though the series finale was canceled due to weather, we were still happy to bring out the brooms.
got that series sweep #broughtthebrooms @ CU Sports Complex https://t.co/5huGcGbah9
— Jen Daro (@myyJENNY) March 24, 2016
A week later we split against South Dakota State to cap off a four-game season series with the Jackrabbits to prepare us for our weekend road series at Seton Hall.
Aside from playing softball the past few weeks when we have been able to enjoy time at home, our team has participated in a few community service events. One community service experience took place at the UNO SAPP Fieldhouse at a national TaeKwonDo tournament. We split up into several groups to help wherever they needed us. We checked participants in, directed them to where they needed to go, sold t-shirts, etc.
A few of us even got to time participants at the agility course station…
Video credit: Micaela Whitney
(Reasons why we chose to play softball, not a sport that requires hurdling over objects and balancing on a beam)
I hope you all enjoyed this edition of Covering the Bases to see what Creighton Softball has been up to the past few weeks. We look forward to seeing those of you who are making the trip out to South Orange this weekend and for those of you who aren't, we will need your energy next weekend as we take on Georgetown at home! Take care and go Jays!
Yours truly,
Erin McGonigal
March 17, 2016
Hello Creighton Softball fans,
I hope you all enjoyed my last blog post following our trip to Denton, Texas. Since our big win at North Texas, we have won nine of the past 11 games, spent zero days practicing in the Rasmussen Center and soaked up plenty of sunshine before we head back to the reality of playing a spring sport in the Midwest. There is a lot to catch up on, so let's get to it.
Similar to last year's trip to the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee, Fla., our schedule featured 10 games against a wide range of Division I talent. Our goal from the beginning was to not only win all 10 games, but also work out all the kinks and establish roles going into the most important part of our season, BIG EAST Conference play. Unlike the previous three years I have gone on this trip, this year's schedule included several repeat opponents. We faced three teams twice, for a total of six of our 10 games, which allowed us to make adjustments throughout the week so that we were better prepared the second time around. I believe this will prepare us well for what's ahead in the BIG EAST when we face the same opponent three times in 24 hours.
Though we considered this trip to be a business trip the minute we touched down in Orlando early Friday morning, and I mean early Friday morning…
Flights in 4 hours and I have yet to pack
— Anna O'Gorman (@folow2bea_fANNA) March 4, 2016
flight is in 3 hours and I'm just now going to bed
— Jen Daro (@myyJENNY) March 4, 2016
We still had a lot of fun together staying in villas with our teammates, enjoying Twistee Treat after wins, eating every meal together and relaxing by the pool when we had time to just chill.
On our last day of games, Coach picked up his 700th win against South Dakota State to close out the week. Surprising him after the game with a signed softball and having a nice steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse later that night was a great way to celebrate his achievement, but seeing him ride a saddle was something no one ever expected to witness.
It's safe to say we had our ups and downs on and off the field this past trip, but we definitely were able to grow as a team. Having a string of 10 games in six days wasn't easy on anyone, certainly more togetherness than some of us needed at times, but it will be an enjoyable experience to look back on.
Five Things we learned about our team in Florida:
- It's going to take everyone to win a conference championship.
- There is never a limit on desserts when eating at Sweet Tomatoes after a 17-hour day.
- "If you can't get pumped to this song…you can't get pumped!"
- Playing Heads Up! may be the best form of team bonding.
- The traveling has been fun, but we can't wait to start playing games at home.
I hope you all enjoyed my recap of our trip to the Rebel Spring Games. I want to give a quick shout out and thank you to all the fans that packed the stands for our first home game this past Wednesday! I'll have more on that later, but I want thank you for your support because nothing makes us happier than seeing our friends and family fill our home stadium! We hope to CU you all next Wednesday as we open up BIG EAST play at home against Providence. Take care and go Jays!
Yours truly,
Erin McGonigal
March 3, 2016
Hello Creighton Softball fans,
I hope you all enjoyed last week's edition of Covering the Bases with Erin McGonigal. I want to thank several of you for all the nice comments last weekend, I appreciate you taking time to read it. Let's jump right to where we left off last weekend with our four-game set at University of North Texas.
We arrived in Denton, Texas on Friday knowing we had two tough, but also beatable opponents on our schedule for the weekend. Sam Houston State and North Texas are two warm weather schools we knew that had been practicing outside since the season started and would be well prepared to take the field against anyone they play. To get ready for the weekend, we had a short hitting workout on Friday at a local high school. We all got several cuts on the field, including Coach, which allowed us to see the ball travel and get some solid shagging in. For the first time in his twenty-plus years of coaching Creighton Softball, Coach took a few cuts off front toss. Much to our disappointment, there were no balls flying over the fence, but there were a few solid line drives that came out of his BP session. On most swings he "matched the plane of the pitch" well and on one or two others he may have "been swinging down at it."
Starting off the weekend with a win over Sam Houston State was exactly what we needed as a team. Reigning BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week, Sydnee Eck, struck out eight of the first 10 batters to set the tone in the circle. Eck finished with 11 for the game in our 2-1 victory. Sophomore Tash Coffiel-Nelson provided an offense spark early in the game by poking a triple right over the head of the leftfielder before juniors Jen Daro and Allie Reinhart doubled and knocked in one run apiece to put us on the board and continue their recent success at the plate.
Freshman Kelly Mardones makes her debut in the circle against North Texas in her hometown of Denton.
The weekend finale win against North Texas was certainly the highlight of the trip and the game we will look back at and realize this may have been a turning point in our season. Eck pitched her heart out once again, earning a 5-4 eight-inning win in the circle against the potent Mean Green offense. The tone was set early in the second inning when junior Anna O'Gorman executed the first "suicide squeeze" play of the year to pick up an RBI and give us a 1-0 lead. Reinhart hit her second double of the game in the fourth inning before senior Blake Ringle jacked a towering home run over the right field fence to take the go-ahead 3-2 lead. As Ringle rounded third she took an animated look to her left wrist signaling "it's about freaking time I hit one out."
The game was knotted up at four heading into the eighth inning when freshman Bry Flanagan smacked a shot to centerfield to score junior Jessica Lewis for the eventual game-winning run. We walked away feeling very accomplished to have beaten a team that defeated Baylor twice the week before, but more importantly knowing we had earned a trip to Whataburger following the game.
Three things we learned about our team at North Texas:
- Beating a team that is receiving Top-25 votes is going to be big for our confidence going forward.
- We always seem to play better when Jeff is in the stadium somewhere.
- Playing error-free ball will keep us in any game, no matter who the opponent is.
- There is no better way to spend an evening than at Rudy's BBQ surrounded by our family and friends.
I hope you all enjoyed a quick recap of our trip to Denton. Stayed tuned for the next edition of Covering the Bases next week as we head to sunny Kissimmee, Florida for 10 games. Safe travels to all the families and friends planning on making the trip, we can't wait to CU there!
Yours truly,
Erin McGonigal
February 23, 2016
Hello Creighton Softball fans!
It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to my first blog post of the 2016 season, Covering the Bases with Erin McGonigal. It feels great to say those words again and I couldn't be more excited to catch you all up on what's been going on with the 2016 Creighton Bluejays.
Before I dive right into the spring season, I want to give you a quick recap of the fall. This fall our team competed in eight total games including matchups against Division I opponents South Dakota, Nebraska, Wichita State and Tulsa. We took an overnight road trip for the first time in my career during the fall season to former Missouri Valley rival, Wichita State, to give us an idea of where we stacked up against the type of competition we would see in the spring. After coming out flat in the first game against the Shockers, we picked up a big win against a solid Tulsa team that really allowed us to see what we needed to work on in the upcoming offseason.
Four things we learned about our team in the fall and offseason:
- Stretches by Skeen™
- 6:30 a.m. really means 6:15 a.m. unless you were late the day before. In that case it means 6:10 a.m., so you might as well just sleep there the night before.
- "Breaking the tape" in early morning conditioning could be the difference between winning and losing a game down the road.
- Rebel Wilson was the sole inspiration behind our final Friday lift sessions.
After returning to campus from a month off with our families to celebrate the holidays, we were all anxious to get back on the field because we knew it was only weeks away from go time. We spent a solid three weeks of practice in the Rasmussen Center preparing for our first opponent of the year, Tennessee, not to mention they were entering the season with a preseason ranking of number eight in the top 25 polls. Opening up with a top-10 opponent may not seem ideal because there is still room for improvement at such an early point in the season, but it is certainly a good measuring stick to see how we perform on a big stage.
We touched down safely in Phoenix, Arizona on Wednesday Feb. 10 and couldn't have been more excited to start the season in some beautiful 80-degree weather! Despite a few mishaps on our itinerary that first day, we were able to find a local park to get out on the dirt for the first time since October. The infielders were able to get a lot of groundball reps, while the outties took quite a few fly balls off the bat. You knew we were in perfect softball weather when for the first time in months we heard Coach's famous speech before our team defense fly ball drill, "Alright. We've got some wind, we've got some sun. Perfect day for some fly ball communication. Let's be loud."
Only coming away with one victory in our opening weekend wasn't what we set out to do but there were some positives to take away from this experience for our team. First off, our enthusiasm and eagerness to take the field against a top-10 team was almost where it needed to be to beat a team like that. Though we didn't put up enough runs on the board to beat Tennessee, after we settled into the game we shut them down in the circle and defensively to put ourselves in position to have a big inning in the seventh.
Another positive we can take away was a few solid outings by our pitching staff featuring returners Micaela Whitney and Sydnee Eck and freshman Michal Hylton. They allowed very few earned runs over the course of the tournament and gave us a chance to compete in all five games.
After returning from the challenges we faced in Arizona, it would have been easy to sit back and be disappointed about the way we played but we responded with a high-intensity practice on Tuesday knowing that our schedule wasn't getting any easier from here on out.
Our next destination was Las Cruces, New Mexico for the Troy Cox Classic at New Mexico State University. We left Thursday morning at the crack of dawn to a part of the country none of us were very familiar with at all.
This is a real thing... #earlyJAYgetstheworm pic.twitter.com/GyZqUDNDTY
— Kelsey Allender (@killuhkay01) February 18, 2016
This tournament featured opponents #11 Oklahoma, Campbell University, Western Michigan and the host New Mexico State. It was good to see the bats finally come alive this weekend in all three of our wins. We had several solid individual performances including three three-run home runs and 13 RBI by junior Jen Daro, aka Jeff. Senior Kelsey Allender also put together quite a weekend at the plate and Sydnee Eck pitched 16 innings to earn her first BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week award of the season.
Three things we learned about our team on our trip to New Mexico:
- Scoring runs early is key. How we show up in the first inning sets the tone for the last six.
- "Helping 4.0 (Sam Crowley) on a crossword puzzle makes people feel good." – Micaela Whitney
- A steak dinner after two wins isn't a bad way to finish out a day.
Thank you all for reading this week's edition of Covering the Bases with Erin McGonigal. I hope you enjoyed catching up with the 2016 Creighton Bluejays. We are looking forward to seeing those who are traveling to Texas this weekend for our four-game set at North Texas. Have a safe trip and go Bluejays!
Yours truly,
Erin McGonigal
If you missed Erin's "Covering The Bases" last season, you can view her 2015 blog here.
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