Creighton softball at Columbia, Mo., Regional
Game 1 • Friday, May 21 • DePaul vs. #18 Illinois • 4:00 pm
Game 2 • Friday, May 21 • Creighton at #8 Missouri • 6:30 pm
Game 3 • Saturday, May 22 • Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 • 12:00 pm
Game 4 • Saturday, May 22 • Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 • 2:30 pm
Game 5 • Saturday, May 22 • Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 • 5:00 pm
Game 6 • Sunday, May 23 • Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 • 1:00 pm
Game 7 • Sunday, May 23 • Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 • 3:00 pm (if necessary)
As I walked up to the CU Sports Complex yesterday, I couldn’t help but think the Creighton softball team gets the short end of the stick. Here’s a team that has been just as successful, if not more, than any other Creighton sport with the exception of men’s soccer.
Coach Brent Vigness is in his 17th year the helm of the softball Jays, the longest-tenured Creighton coach even before Dana Altman left the men’s basketball program. He’s taken them to the NCAA Tournament in six of the last eight years and seven times since 1999. He’s won six Missouri Valley Conference Tournament titles, six MVC regular-season crowns and has been named Valley Coach of the Year three times.
Before Vigness arrived, the Jays made it to the Women’s College World Series twice, in each of their first two NCAA Tournament appearances in 1982 and 1986, and Creighton’s 12 NCAA Tournament appearances and 12 Tournament wins are tops in the conference.
But, here the softball team sits, playing in what will soon be, after the baseball team moves to TD Ameritrade Park, unquestionably the worst facility of any of Creighton’s seven first-tier sports. As Vigness was going through seemingly every possible scenario with his infielders for Friday’s NCAA Tournament opener against Missouri (one out, runner on first, lead-off hitter at the plate; no outs, bases empty, third hitter at the plate), I started to feel bad for them. Despite their success, no one goes to the games and it’s almost impossible for them to garner any local media coverage.
So I decided that I would do my best to tell you all why you should care about the Creighton softball team, at least this weekend. Ready, set go!
Tara Oltman is the greatest pitcher in Missouri Valley Conference history and probably the greatest athlete, statistically speaking, in Creighton University history.
Oltman, a senior, is the first player in school history, in any sport, to be named first-team all-conference four times. That’s right, folks. Kyle Korver didn’t do it; Rodney Buford didn’t do it; none of the men’s soccer players has ever done it. She was also named MVC Pitcher of the Year three times.
She owns MVC and school career records in wins, strikeouts, appearances, starts, complete games and innings. She’s thrown an estimated 17,633 career pitches.
This year, she is 32-12 with a 1.62 ERA and she was named MVC Tournament MVP, going 4-0 with a 0.72 ERA, pitching every inning. She will pitch every inning of the NCAA Tournament, no matter how far the Jays advance.
Oltman is one of only three active players in the nation with at least 100 career victories, and only the 2009 National Player of the Year has more career wins. She is tied for 18th on the all-time NCAA wins list.
I can’t stress enough that she is more than likely the greatest student-athlete that Creighton has ever seen. AND YOU’RE MISSING IT! Here’s a video that explains, among other things, that she throws SIX pitches. (Also note that sophomore catcher Lauren Larson calls her own game. The pitches don’t come from a coach in the dugout. There probably isn’t a Creighton baseball catcher who has ever called his own game.)
Renae Sinkler is having the greatest offensive season in school history.
Sinkler, also a senior, was named the MVC Player of the Year for the second straight season. To recap real quick: Creighton has, on the same team, the greatest pitcher in conference history and the Valley Player of the Year. How are you not watching this team?
Sinkler set single-season school records with 58 runs. 58 RBI and 144 total bases. She set a school and MVC record with 24 home runs, a number that ranks fourth in the nation, and her 50 career homers are also a school and conference record. So powerful has she been offensively that, leading off the bottom of the eighth inning against Wichita State in the first round of the MVC Tournament, she was intentionally walked.
According to the Creighton Sports Information Department:
-The last time there was an intentional walk in the Major Leagues with no one on and no one out was June 11, 2007 to Barry Bonds in the 6th inning of a game vs. Toronto. There have been 3,539 intentional walks in the Majors since that free pass issued to Bonds.
-The last time there was an intentional walk in the Major Leagues with no one on, no one out and in extra innings was August 11, 2004 to Barry Bonds. However, that was in the top of the 10th inning of a game vs. Pittsburgh. There have been 7,093 intentional walks issued since the last one to start an extra inning.
-Since 1952, there have been 67,968 intentional walks issued in Major League Baseball. Only 10 of those were with no outs and no one on base (including 5 to Barry Bonds, 2 to Frank Howard and 1 each to Monte Irvin, Daryl Spencer and Missouri State alum Ryan Howard). Only two of those came in extra innings (both to Bonds), but both came in the top of that inning.
-In other words, in Major League Baseball since 1952 (which is as far back as the IBB stats are compiled on Retrosheet), there is NO RECORDED INSTANCE of a home team receiving an intentional walk to start any extra inning.
-Need a comparison on just how rare this is? In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been six players that have been issued intentional walks with the bases loaded, thus giving the batting team an automatic run. Six times! Yet, never a leadoff walk in the home half of an extra inning.
I have a friend who describes Sinkler as Barry Bonds without the attitude problems or the PED use. In other words, she’s really, ridiculously good at softball.
Oh, and Creighton has another record-setter, too.
Freshman Amy Baker is having the greatest offensive season by a freshman in school history. She has 15 home runs and 46 RBI – both school records for freshmen – and she was named first-team all conference. She’s in the Valley top-10 in homers, total bases, slugging, doubles, RBI, batting average and on-base percentage.
Cliffs notes: greatest pitcher in MVC history, conference player of the year/greatest hitter in school history, greatest offensive freshman in school history. OK.
The Creighton softball team has some major local flavor.
All six seniors on the team are from Nebraska. According to CU Sports Information, each of the four Bluejays who have played at CU for four years – Michelle Graner, Michelle Koch, Oltman, Sinkler – will end their career with at least one school record. The other two seniors, transfers Jessi Jadlowski and Sara Loeffelholz, were both starters throughout their time on campus. According to Creighton Sports Info:
• Jadlowski has started 138 of the 153 games she played in during her three seasons. Loeffelholz has started 104 of the 108 games she’s played in over her two seasons.
• Graner is CU’s career leader in walks (111) and hit-by-pitch (34), while her 40 walks this season are the single-season CU record. Her three home runs in one game against South Dakota State on March 22, 2007 are a school and MVC record.
• Koch owns the CU career record with 58 sacrifice bunts and ranks 10th in school history with 16 career home runs.
• Sinkler, just the fourth two-time MVC Player of the Year in league history, is the Creighton career record holder for home runs (50), RBI (146) and total bases (388). Her 24 home runs this year are a school and MVC record, while her 58 RBI and 58 runs scored this season are also school records.
• Oltman’s achievements and records are well documented. The All-American will end her career as the school and MVC career leader in wins, appearances, starts, complete games, innings pitched and strikeouts, while she also has single season school records in innings, complete games and wins (also an MVC record). The only three-time MVC Pitcher of the Year in league history has been named MVC Pitcher of the Week 13 times in her career and is an Academic All-American as well.
I’ll let Steve Pivovar of the Omaha World-Herald explain further.
The softball team saved your program from a rather embarrassing athletic year.
Creighton has sent at least one athletic team to the NCAA Tournament every year since 1986-87. That streak was in jeopardy until last weekend. The softball team was Creighton’s last shot at an NCAA bid (no offense to baseball, I guess) and it capitalized. This is Creighton’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in any sport since the men’s soccer team all the way back in the fall of 2008.
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Now go and cheer for the Jays. Here’s how you can follow this weekend’s action. And check back tomorrow for more softball coverage.