By snoadmin
The Beach is being brought to Iowa.
The No. 14-seeded 49ers (39-15) will meet the non-seeded Bluejays (43-15) in the opener of the Iowa City Regional Friday at Bob Pearl Field at 3 p.m. PST. The host Iowa Hawkeyes (40-18) and Missouri Tigers (44-15) also will meet in the first day of the Iowa City Regional, which will run through Sunday. The Iowa City Regional winner will then face the Tuscaloosa Regional winner (No. 3 Alabama, UT-Chattanooga, Jacksonville State or Florida State) the following weekend.
Head coach Kim Sowder was pleased with the No. 1 seed in the regional and change of venue.
“It’s a nice change for the program to go somewhere where we haven’t been,” Sowder said. “The NCAA showed us a lot of respect.”
Arms race takes center stage
LBSU is led in the pitcher’s circle by freshman Brooke Turner (26-4, 0.67 ERA), who is tied for the school’s single-season wins record (26), broke the school’s single-game (16) and single-season (226) strikeout records, as well as the shutout record (17), and earned a single-season record eight Big West Pitcher of the Week awards, surpassing her sister Michelle.
Creighton University, from Omaha, Neb., will counter with its own ace, sophomore Tara Oltman (31-7, 0.94 ERA), who won her second consecutive Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year award this season after striking out 285 batters in 261 2/3 innings and holding opponents to a .167 batting average. Her 31 wins rank in the top-10 nationally.
Sowder said she expects the pitcher’s duel to make for a low-scoring affair.
“She’s got great numbers,” Sowder said of Oltman. “We’re going to have to try to put the ball in play. We’re going to really have to try to put pressure on them.”
Jays’ bats provide thunder
At the plate, the free-swinging 49ers will look to the trio of senior leadoff hitter Jessica Beaver, third basewoman Jennifer Griffin and catcher Brooke LeSage.
Beaver became LBSU’s all-time career RBI leader this season and drove in a team-high 42 RBIs to go with a team-leading six home runs. Griffin led the team with a .333 batting average, hit three homers, knocked in 21 RBIs and provided stellar defense at the hot corner as a junior transfer from Tennessee.
LeSage, in her senior season, provided a steady bat by hitting .306 with three homers and 24 RBIs in addition to guiding the pitching staff from behind the plate.
Attempting to solve Turner will be the quartet of centerfielder Jessica Wagasuki, first basewoman Renae Sinkler, shortstop Bailey Dawson and catcher T.J. Eadus, all of whom were selected to the All-MVC first-team along with Oltman.
Wagasuki led Creighton with a .362 average, while Sinkler wasn’t far behind with a .348 clip to go with eight home runs and 36 RBIs.
Eadus hit a team-high 11 homers, while Dawson bombed 10 out of the park.
