The second local player was Marques Sigle, a Safety hailing from North High School, just two rounds later. Sigle started the final 25 games of his career at Kansas State after transferring in from North Dakota State. The San Francisco 49ers selected Sigle in the fifth round Saturday with the 160th overall pick.
Omaha softball clinched the No. 1 seed in the Summit League tournament this weekend following Saturday’s victory over South Dakota State. The Mavericks are 35-10 overall and 14-4 in conference play this season behind their stellar defense that is posting the nation’s sixth-best fielding percentage and eighth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio. Omaha heads to Madison for one final doubleheader Friday before traveling to Brookings for the Summit League tournament beginning next Wednesday, May 7. The winner of the tournament will receive the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The PVF playoffs are set with the league’s fourth and final team, the Indy Ignite, cementing its spot in the postseason following a win over San Diego on Sunday. They will join Omaha, Atlanta and Orlando to compete for the “Match for a Million.” Seeds are not finalized yet with Omaha and Atlanta battling for the No. 1 seed, but the Supernovas can clinch that with a win on Friday against Grand Rapids. The PVF Championship will be held on May 9 and 11 in Las Vegas. All matches will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
Ally Batenhorst set a franchise record during the Supernovas final home match Sunday, a win against Vegas. The rookie hit .667 in the match, recording 10 kills on 15 attempts with zero errors. The first-place Supernovas have two games remaining. On Friday, they will visit Grand Rapids, then second-place Atlanta on Sunday.
Creighton men’s basketball got another transfer portal commitment on Sunday evening from MEAC Rookie and Player of the Year, Blake Harper. The 6’8 freshman averaged 19.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game while shooting 40.4 percent from three-point range.
The Jays are ranked seventh in the country in On3’s transfer portal rankings after bringing in five new faces with college experience. Former teammates Josh Dix and Owen Freeman (Iowa), Austin Swartz (Miami), Nik Graves (Charlotte) and Blake Harper (Howard) have all transferred in this offseason. Creighton also brings in four-star freshman Hudson Greer and Serbian seven-footer Aleksa Dimitrijevic in this recruiting cycle. Greg McDermott, in the twilight of his career, has no interest in rebuilding – just reloading. Creighton’s ceiling with this roster and coaching staff is absolutely a Final Four.
Speaking of Creighton basketball, both the men’s and women’s programs finished this season in the top 25 of the year-end coaches’ polls. Creighton and Duke are the only two Division I schools to achieve this feat each of the last two seasons.
Maddia Groff has been named Summit League Pitcher of the Week, again, for the sixth time this season. In 15 innings pitched last weekend against South Dakota, Groff went 2-0, posting a 0.47 ERA. The Omaha native is top 10 in the nation in wins (22), strikeouts (212), strikeout-to-walk ratio (10) and ERA (1.33). Omaha was recently ranked No. 21 in the Division I Softball Mid-Major Rankings, and Groff is largely to thank.
Omaha baseball snapped a five-game losing streak against Creighton Tuesday, beating the Bluejays 11-5. The Mavericks tie the season series 1-1 ahead of the finale May 13. With the game tied 3-3 in the seventh inning, Omaha rattled off five runs with two outs on the board, taking the lead for good. The Summit League’s fourth-place Mavericks visit first-place St. Thomas for a series this weekend. Big East-leading Creighton heads to a series against lackluster Butler.
Creighton softball faced Kansas City in a midweek doubleheader Tuesday and won both games in walk-off fashion – but not the kind of walk-offs you may be accustomed to. Hannah Poole’s walk-off grand slam made it 9-1 in the fifth inning and sealed the run-rule victory in game one. In game two, Avery Barnard’s sixth inning single secured the 12-4 run-rule victory for the Jays. Creighton is now 24-23 coming into their last series of the regular season on a five-game winning streak. They host Seton Hall for the final regular-season series this weekend before the start of the Big East Softball tournament May 7.
The Storm Chasers evened this week’s series against Indianapolis Wednesday, defeating the Indians 9-6. Omaha was down 6-2 in the bottom of the seventh when they put up five runs to take the lead before scoring two insurance runs in the eighth. Tonight, they return to Werner Park against Indianapolis at 6:35 p.m. for “Take Meowt to the Ballgame” and $3 Thursday. You can enter for $3 and bring your leashed or crated cat to the game, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Upcoming Games
- Omaha Storm Chasers vs. Indianapolis (April 29-May 4) | Tonight, May 1 | 6:35 p.m.
- Crieghton Baseball at Butler (May 2-4) | Friday, May 2 | 2 p.m.
- Omaha Baseball at St. Thomas (May 2-4) | Friday, May 2 | 3 p.m.
- Omaha Softball at Wisconsin (Doubleheader) | Friday, May 2 | 4 p.m.
- Creighton Softball vs. Seton Hall (May 2-4) | Friday, May 2 | 4 p.m.
- Omaha Supernovas at Grand Rapids | Friday, May 2 | 6 p.m.
- Omaha Beef vs. Dallas | Saturday, May 3 | 6:30 p.m.
- Omaha Supernovas at Atlanta | Sunday, May 4 | 5 p.m.
- Omaha Softball – Summit League Tournament | Wednesday, May 7 – Saturday, May 10
- Creighton Softball – Big East Tournament | Wednesday, May 7 – Saturday, May 10
