Softball Journeys To Phoenix Before Visiting Las Vegas

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Creighton heads to Phoenix for the GCU Round Robin (March 4-5) against Grand Canyon and Maine before traveling to Las Vegas to play a single game against UNLV (March 7).

Game Schedule
Saturday, March 4 • Creighton at Grand Canyon • 1 p.m.
Saturday, March 4 • Creighton vs. Maine • 6 p.m.
Sunday, March 5 • Creighton at Grand Canyon • 1 p.m.
Sunday, March 5 • Creighton vs. Maine • 6 p.m.
Tuesday, March 7 • Creighton at UNLV • 6 p.m.
*All times listed are Central Standard Time

Follow the Action
Live stats for this weekend's action can be found at Creighton.Statbroadcast.com.

Video streams will also be available for Creighton's two games against Grand Canyon (March 4, 1 pm and March 5, 1 pm) on GCU.tv.

The Bluejays' game at UNLV on Tuesday will be streamed on the Mountain West Network which can be found at UNLVRebels.com/videos.

Scoring updates and infographics will be provided via Twitter at @BluejaySoftball.

Scouting Creighton (4-10)
The Bluejays finished the month of February with a 4-10 record after a 2-2 showing at the Santa Clara Invitational Feb. 24-25.

Creighton is led offensively by Tash Coffiel. Coffiel holds a .250 batting average with a team-high nine hits after going 5-for-11 with a double and three RBIs during four games in California last weekend.

Coffiel has six RBIs on the season and is tied for the team-lead with Jordyn Sturgeon.

Michal Hylton leads the Bluejays with 38.0 innings pitched. She lowered her ERA to 6.08 after allowing one earned run during two complete games last weekend, including a shutout of the host Broncos.

Bryana Clark has logged 35.1 innings and owns a 3.96 ERA to go along with two complete-game victories.

Scouting Grand Canyon (16-1)
Grand Canyon holds a nine-game winning streak heading into the weekend and is 11-0 at home.

The Lopes lone loss came at the hands of No. 23 Baylor, 1-0, on Feb. 17 in Waco, Texas.

Laynee Gomez leads the team with a .367 batting average and .456 on-base percentage. Grand Canyon is hitting .335 as a unit and has seven players hitting better than .333.

Bianca Boling leads the power attack with three home runs, four doubles and 17 RBIs.

Three different pitchers have started four or more games and logged over 32 innings pitched.

Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage leads the trio with a 2.40 ERA, while 2016 WAC Pitcher of the Year Taylor Nowlin owns a team-best 48.2 innings, 52 strikeouts, five complete games and nine victories with a 2.45 ERA.

Head coach Ann Pierson is in her 15th season at Grand Canyon.

Scouting Maine (0-0)
Maine's first games of the season will take place in Phoenix as the team did not make a scheduled trip to Tennessee for a tournament hosted by Belmont Feb. 10-12 because of a snow storm and cancelled flights.

The Black Bears were picked as the unanimous No. 1 team in the 2017 America East Preseason Coaches poll.

Maine returned 19 players from last season's team that won a conference title and appeared in the NCAA regionals.

2016 America East Pitcher of the Year Erin Bogdanovich returns for her senior season in the circle, while last season's America East Rookie of Year Alyssa Derrick leads the offense after hitting a Black Bear best eight home runs and 41 RBIs during her first season at Maine.

Head coach Mike Coutts is in his third season at Maine.

Scouting UNLV (9-5 as of 3/2)
The Rebels enter the Red Desert Classic (March 3-5) on a two-game losing skid at the Bank of Hawaii Invitational.

UNLV is 6-2 at home, including a 4-0 showing during the DeMarini Desert Classic (March 16-19).

The Rebels were picked fifth in the preseason Mountain West poll and returned two starters from last season, and welcomed 13 newcomers.

Brianna Gatlin, a transfer from Utah Valley, hit .390 and owned a .479 on-base percentage through the first 14 games.

Senior Morgan Ettinger recorded 31 strikeouts and holds a 2.24 ERA in 43.2 innings of work. The next most used pitcher has only 17.1 logged innings.

Fifth-year head coach Lisa Dodd surpassed the 100-win plateau at UNLV with the team's fourth win of the season.

Series History vs. Grand Canyon
Creighton and Grand Canyon will be meeting for the first time when the two teams square-off at the GCU Round Robin.

Series History vs. Maine
The Bluejays hold a 4-0 series edge against the Black Bears. Creighton defeated Maine 2-1 in eight innings during the most recent meeting on March 6, 2004 during the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee, Fla.

Series History vs. UNLV
Creighton is 3-0 all-time against UNLV. The Bluejays swept the Rebels during three games in Las Vegas on March 8 and 9, 1987.

Historic Comeback
Creighton's comeback victory against Weber State (Feb. 25) after being down 6-0, marked the Bluejays' largest comeback since Brent Vigness took over as head coach in 1994.

The Bluejays scored nine runs in the seventh inning to erase a six-run deficit and defeat the Wildcats 9-6.

Creighton picked up just its 18th victory since 1999 when the opposition scored six or more runs. The Jays are now 18-183 (.090 winning percentage) during the past 19 seasons when allowing six or more runs to score, and 23-279-1 (.078) when trailing after six innings.

The largest comeback Creighton had prior to the contest against Weber State was from five down which has happened multiple times, most recently on April 20, 2013 when the Bluejays scored six runs in the bottom of the 8th to beat Southern Illinois 6-5.

Big Seventh Frame
Creighton's nine runs during the seventh inning against Weber State matched the total number of runs the Bluejays scored during the seventh frame all of 2016.

The total also marked the most runs Creighton has scored in the seventh inning in one game during the past 19 seasons.

The Bluejays' nine-run inning was their highest scoring inning since the team scored nine during the second inning on April 9, 2016 against Georgetown.

Hylton's Shutout
Michal Hylton pitched her first career shutout during the Bluejays' 4-0 win over Santa Clara on Feb. 24.

Hylton allowed five hits, walked two and struck out a pair during seven scoreless innings against the Broncos, while picking up her first victory during the 2017 season.

Hit Parade
Creighton's 14 hits against Weber State marked a new season-high and was the most hits in a single game by the Bluejays since March 23, 2016 when the Jays had 16 against Providence.

The Bluejays' 14-hit game surpassed the total number of hits the team had during each of the first two weekends of the 2017 season (12 during 5 games Feb. 9-11, 11 during 5 games Feb. 17-19).

Softball Journeys To Phoenix Before Visiting Las Vegas

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Bryana Clark

Tash Coffiel

Michal Hylton

Jordyn Sturgeon

Softball Journeys To Phoenix Before Visiting Las Vegas

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Bryana Clark

Tash Coffiel

Michal Hylton

Jordyn Sturgeon

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