Coming off a series loss to St John’s on the road, the UConn softball team is back in action against Creighton this weekend. This will be a three-game Big East conference series and it all starts on Friday, April 12, at Burrill Family Field at the Connecticut Softball Complex. The series will open on Friday for a nightcap, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The series will continue Saturday, April 12, at 2:00 p.m. then will wrap up on Sunday, April 13, with first pitch set for 12:00 p.m. All the games for the weekend have themes: Friday is Game Night, Saturday is Bleed Blue/Wear White and Sunday’s finale game is Senior Day for the Huskies.
UConn is entering this series with a 20-18 overall record. Last weekend, the Huskies did not have the best of a series down in Queens, NY at St. John’s as they lost two out of the three games. However, they defeated the Red Storm in the series finale with a final score of 8-3. On Monday, it was announced by the conference that senior Payton Kinney earned Big East Honor Roll for this week. That would make for the second time Kinney has received that honor this season. Against St. Johns, Kinney hit a career milestone of 300 career strikeouts. She has been a key part of this season’s pitching staff, and her stats are sure showing it. This past weekend, Kinney struck out 19 hitters while owning a 1.83 ERA in 15.1 innings in the circle against St. John’s, holding the Red Storm to just a .154 batting average.
Additionally, junior Lexi Hastings was also named to this week’s Big East Honor Roll. She hit a team-best .500 this week with four runs scored and two RBIs. Hastings also went five-for-five in stolen bases while also having a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in the outfield.
As for Creighton, they are coming into this road trip with a 24-16 overall record. They most recently just won a series over Villanova, winning two out of three games and won a single game against a non-conference opponent in South Dakota on Tuesday. The Bluejays bats have been on fire recently, as they have scored 25 runs in their last three victories. Creighton is led by fifth-year senior Madeline Vejvoda, who is batting .350 on 41 hits, including 10 doubles. She has driven in 24 runs and has scored 21 of her own. Vejvoda was named this week’s Big East Player of the Week and is riding an eight-game hitting streak into this weekend’s series against the Huskies. A player close being Vejvoda is senior Cayla Nielson. She has a .341 batting average on a team-best 45 hits and including an .408 on-base percentage.
The Big East Battle against UConn (No. 4 in conference) and No. 2 Creighton (No. 2 in conference) will begin on Friday, April 12 at 7:00. All three games will be played at the Burrill Family Field at the Connecticut Softball Complex in Storrs, CT and will be available to stream on Flosoftball.