WICHITA, Kan. - The Wichita State softball team travels north to its final tournament of 2018 as they face Iowa and Creighton in Omaha, Neb., Saturday and Sunday. The Creighton Tournament will play host to the three teams with the Shockers facing the Hawkeyes at 12:00 p.m. on both days before facing the Bluejays at 5:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday with all games played at the Creighton Sports Complex.
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SCOUTING IOWA
The Hawkeyes have a 10-9 record entering the weekend, picking up notable wins over Tulsa, #8 Baylor and #13 Arizona State on Wednesday evening. Back in the Midwest after spending a week in Phoenix, Ariz., the Hawkeyes have strung together six wins from the past eight games. The Creighton Tournament will be their last outing before a run of eight games back in Iowa City. Allison Doocy leads the pitching staff with a 1.17 ERA, 7-3 W/L record and 71 strikeouts on the year. Mallory Kilian leads the bats with a .313 average, four doubles, three home runs and 11 RBI on the year.
SERIES HISTORY
The teams have met six times on the softball field with the Shockers trailing 1-5 all time. The teams have never met in Wichita or Iowa City with all games coming at neutral sites.
LAST MEETING WITH THE HAWKEYES
The Shockers last met Iowa in February 2012 at the Getterman Classic in
Kristi Bredbenner's first season in charge. The Hawkeyes run-ruled the Shockers inside five innings, 11-0.
SCOUTING CREIGHTON
A 37-year conference partner in the Missouri Valley, the Bluejays are sporting a 10-7 record in 2018 after picking up two wins over Southeast Missouri last weekend.
Hope Moreno leads the batters with a .404 average and 17 RBI on the year.
Bryana Clark leads the pitching staff with a 1.75 ERA, a 2-2 W/L record and 32 strikeouts on the year.
SERIES HISTORY
The teams have met 82 times overall with the Shockers trailing 24-58. In Omaha the Bluejays have an advantage with a 26-12 lead over WSU.
LAST MEETING WITH THE BLUEJAYS
The Shockers and Bluejays last met in 2014 in Omaha with the Shockers falling 2-1.
Paige Luellen was the only current Shocker involved in the matchup going 2-for-3 at the plate.
QUICK HITS
• For their recent performances against 'power five' schools [four wins] and a clean sweep at the WSU Tournament, Wichita State continued to receive votes in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll on March 13.
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Bailey Lange is fourth in the conference in batters struck out and leads The American in looking strikeouts with 26. Lange is also third in strikeouts per game with 8.03.
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Paige Luellen became the fourth Shocker this season to be tabbed to the American Athletic Conference Honor Roll. Luellen has had a stellar two weeks at the plate and joins
Bailey Lange,
Ryleigh Buck and
Bailee Nickerson who have all earned a nod to the honor roll so far this season.
• Ignoring the four blowouts to ranked opponents this season, the other four Shocker losses have only been decided by a combined six runs; two by one and two by two.
THOSE TOP-25 TEAMS
The Shockers have only dropped
one game all year to a team not receiving votes or ranked within the top-25 nationally. The Shockers fell on a walk-off two-run homer to Furman back on the first weekend of the season in Auburn, Ala., with every other loss in 2018 coming to a team in the national poll or receiving votes.
NOTED AND VOTED
The Wichita State softball team have received votes in two consecutive USA Today/NFCA Weekly Poll's in 2018. The Shockers received one vote on March 6 and 14 on March 13. This is the first time the Shockers have entered one of the main two softball polls since the 2006 ESPN.com/USA Softball Preseason Poll released prior to that season.
DOING IT IN STYLE
Senior
Paige Luellen took control of the career RBI record book after a stellar weekend at the plate. The senior struck three home runs that included a grand slam to lift the Shockers out a six-run hole and a three-run walk-off home run to sweep the WSU Tournament. Luellen leads the team in RBI and slugging percentage; she also leads the conference in the latter.
HONORED BY THE AMERICAN
Paige Luellen tabbed Honor Roll honors after her performances at the WSU Tournament.Â
Bailey Lange earned a spot on the American Athletic Conference Softball Honor Roll March 4 with sophomore
Ryleigh Buck earning the honor the week before. Freshman
Bailee Nickerson also earned an Honor Roll nod Feb. 18.
MAKING AN IMPACT
Ryleigh Buck and
Bailey Lange are currently sitting in a number of top-10 conference categories. Buck leads the conference in chances and putouts at first base while Lange is fourth in batters struck out and is also leading The American in looking strikeouts.
Senior
Paige Luellen is ninth in batting average with .390 and leads the conference in slugging percentage with .732.
ADJUST AND REWARD
After going 5-for-30 through the first 13 games of the year, catcher
Madison Perrigan has stepped up considerably by going 9-for-23 in the past eight games with 11 RBI. The sophomore has hit three home runs in eight games, reached base 21 times and scored four runs for a .391 batting average.
Paige Luellen is also batting over .400 in the past eight games and is 12-for-27 at the plate; pitcher
Bailey Lange is 7-for-17 with four doubles and six RBI.
THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT'S COMING
Junior pitcher
Bailey Lange leads the Shocker pitching staff in wins and strikeouts despite missing most of the Texas Invitational with an illness. She returned in emphatic fashion against Nebraska, pitching 12.0 innings, striking out 12 and only giving up two runs for two Shocker wins. Against Arkansas she gave up five hits, struck out six en-route to her third shutout of the season. She earned her seventh and eighth wins at the WSU Tournament against Missouri State and Western Illinois; she also picked up two saves on the weekend.
The lefty pitcher also has the most looking strikeouts in the American Athletic Conference and is averaging 8.03 strikeouts per game.
