WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University softball team will open BIG EAST Conference play this weekend at Nationals Youth Academy against Creighton for a two-day, three-game series. The weekend will begin with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 23 at noon with the next game following immediately after. Sunday's game will conclude the series at 11 a.m. Live stats for all three games will be available at GUHoyas.com.
 
The Hoyas are 7-21 on the season and went 1-4 last weekend in the Buff & Blue Challenge at George Washington. Georgetown defeated Stony Brook 4-3 in the tournament opener and junior Noelle Holiday (Bear, Del. / Red Lion Christian Academy) led the squad over the weekend with a total of four hits, two homers and two doubles along with six RBIs. She had a slugging percentage of 1.000 and was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday for her efforts.
 
For the season, Holiday leads the squad at the plate batting .342 (25 for 73) and a team high of eight doubles, five home runs and 24 RBIs. The first baseman ranks second in the league in RBIs and third in doubles. Sophomore Savannah Jones (San Rafael, Calif. / Terra Linda) and freshmen Mae Forshey (Phoenix, Ariz. / Arcadia) and Kiki Besnard (Irvine, Calif. / Northwood) are tied for second on the team with seven doubles, ranking them fourth in the league for most doubles.
 
Jones leads the squad with a .444 on-base-percentage, three triples and 19 runs scored. She ranks third in the BIG EAST with 19 runs and is tied for first with three triples.
 
The Bluejays (9-9) start BIG EAST play following a 3-2 weekend in Kansas City. Creighton took two out of three from UMKC and split a pair of games against South Dakota State. Junior lead-off hitter Ashley Cantu leads the Bluejay offense with 18 hits and 11 walks for a .360 batting average and .475 on-base percentage. She also owns 13 runs scored and six RBIs.
 
On Monday, Kiele Miller was named the league's Pitcher of the Week after allowing only one earned run in 14 innings of work and struck out 16 batters during a pair of complete-game victories. Miller leads the team with 50 strikeouts in 36.1 innings of work and has thrown two shutouts so far this year.
 
The Hoyas are 5-8 all-time against the Bluejays and went 1-2 in last year's three-game series in Omaha, Nebraska. Junior Anna Brooks Pacha (Houston, Texas / St. John's School) threw a no hitter and struck out 12 against Creighton in a 4-0 win.
 
Following this weekend, the Blue & Gray will hit the road to Queens, New York for a three-game BIG EAST series at St. John's beginning on Saturday, March 30 until Sunday, March 31.