Jayhawks To Host Bluejays In Thursday Doubleheader

March 29, 2006

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

FIRST PITCH
Kansas softball returns home after an eight-game road stretch to host Creighton in a non-conference doubleheader Thursday (2 p.m.) and Oklahoma State in a Big 12 series Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) at Arrocha Ballpark. The Jayhawks bring a 17-16 record (0-2 Big 12) into the home swing and are coming off a twin bill sweep of UMKC on Tuesday. With a victory Thursday, head coach Tracy Bunge will get her 300th victory at the helm of the KU program.

Game two of the Creighton twin bill (4 p.m.) will be broadcast live on the Jayhawk Radio Network (1320 AM in Lawrence area). Jud Easterday will provide play-by-play and former KU assistant coach Aaron Clopton will be the color analyst. Saturday’s promotions include the “Biggest Group” contest and Sunday is Breast Cancer Awareness Day in collaboration with the Susan G. Komen Foundation and Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Live Gametracker is available for all KU games on kuathletics.com, the official web site of Kansas Athletics.

KANSAS QUICK HITS
-Kansas returns eight letterwinners and six starters in 2006, including four All-Big 12 selections in Destiny Frankenstein (Sr., SS), Jessica Moppin (Sr., 2B), Heather Stanley (Sr., OF) and Serena Settlemier (Sr., P/DP).
-Settlemier holds the KU all-time home runs record with 37. Frankenstein is close behind with 30 for her career, while Moppin (28) and senior Nettie Fierros (15) also rank in KU’s career Top 10.
-Head coach Tracy Bunge is just one win away from her 300th victory at Kansas and nine away from her 400th career coaching victory.
-KU has made nine trips to the NCAA Regionals in the last 25 years and gone three times under Bunge in the past nine seasons (most recently in 2005).
-The Jayhawks broke two program records last season when they hit 54 home runs and boasted a .973 fielding percentage. KU already has 37 homers through 33 games this season.

CREIGHTON… Creighton is coming off a 3-1 loss to 17th-ranked Nebraska Tuesday night. The Jays allowed just one-hit against the Huskers, but four wild pitches by freshman Cassidy Nee and an error contributed to the loss. The Bluejays (12-13, 2-4 MVC) have had an up-and-down season while playing with seven freshmen on a roster of 15 players. CU lost five starters and two starting pitchers off of last year’s 44-13 team which won its third straight Missouri Valley tournament title. The Bluejays have already made 31 errors (.955 fielding percentage) and allowed 17 unearned runs through 25 games this year, after ranking 18th in the NCAA in fielding percentage last year (.972). Lauren Cisneros is off to the best start of her career at CU, leading the team in every major offensive category. She leads the MVC with 27 RBI and a .943 slugging percentage, and already has nine home runs, just one shy of her career-high. Freshmen Bailey Dawson (.300) and Jessica Wakasugi (.288) have both started every game for the Bluejays at shortstop and center field, respectively. Junior Jessica German already has a career-highs in hits (23) and RBI (11) and is batting a career-best .338. The three Bluejay pitchers are .500 or one game below, with Stephanie Cortese (5-5) leading the team with a 2.02 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 83 innings. Nee (5-6) has an overall ERA of 2.91, but an 0.88 ERA in MVC play. The pitching staff tops the MVC with a .201 opponents’ batting average, but ranks eighth in the league with 88 walks.

UMKC/TEXAS A&M LEFTOVERS
The Jayhawks used 25 hits, including seven home runs, to shut out UMKC, 8-0 and 19-0 (five innings), Tuesday night at Adair Park … Serena Settlemier led the Jayhawks on the day with three home runs (eight RBI) to bring her season total to a school-record 15 and her career mark to 37, the most in KU history … In addition to Settlemier’s 4-for-5 performance, Ashley Goodrich went 4-for-4 at the plate and Jessica Moppin was 4-for-6 on the day … KU opened Big 12 Conference play last weekend with two one-run losses at #15 Texas A&M … Despite outhitting the Aggies in both contests, the Jayhawks fell, 2-1 and 3-2, in the bottom of the seventh innings in College Station … Destiny Frankenstein led KU at the plate with a .400 batting average against A&M.