SCHEDULE UPDATE: Friday doubleheader at 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 pm. Sunday 12 p.m.

DATE:                              Friday-Sunday, March 27-29
LOCATION:                    Queens, N.Y. / Red Storm Field
LIVE STATS:                   butlersports.com (statbroadcast)
LIVE VIDEO:                   ESPN+ (Fri. & Sun.) | Youtube (Sat.)
 
The Butler softball team will travel to St. John's this weekend for its third conference series of the season. The Bulldogs (14-9, 6-0 BIG EAST) are coming off a three-game series sweep vs. Seton Hall and a midweek win over Ball State. The Red Storm (22-10, 3-3 BIG EAST), who were the preseason favorite to win the BIG EAST, lost their series with UConn, 2-1, but won their series at Georgetown, 2-1.
 
Bulldog Bits                                                            
        (as of 3/24/26)

• As a team, Butler leads the BIG EAST with a .334 batting average, 13 double plays, and 7.52 runs/game.
• Makena Alexander leads the BIG EAST and is (ranked nationally) in several categories:
• 1.147 Slug% (6th), .618 on base% (7th), .529 avg. (7th), and 42 RBI (21st), and 11 home runs (32nd).
• Hailey Conger ranks in the BIG EAST and is (ranked nationally) in several categories:
• 1st (9th) with 1.48 runs/game, 2nd (47th) with .543 on base%, 2nd (54th) with .456 avg. and 2nd with 31 RBIs.
• Cate Lehner leads the BIG EAST (26th nationally) with 18 stolen bases, and she is also 1st (5th) with 86.0 at bats per strikeout.

        at Ball State

• With two home runs in the contest, Makena Alexander has six in the past seven games.
• The home run by Olivia Roberts was a career first.
• Maren Berger's win in the circle was her first as a Butler Bulldog.
• Kate Murray's save was a career first, and it represented the first save for the Butler pitching staff this season.

       vs. Seton Hall

• Cate Lehner led Butler with a .636 avg., seven hits, and four stolen bases. With five runs scored over three games, she broke Butler's career record and now has 126 runs in her career. (Ella White, 124 runs scored, '22-'25)
• Hailey Conger and Lehner each scored five runs. Conger and Makena Alexander led Butler with five RBIs.
• Lehner, Conger, and Alexander each had multiple hits and batted .500 or better.
• Katie Petran (0.00 ERA, 2APP, 8.2-IP) pitched a complete-game shutout victory in game one vs. Seton Hall. She then entered game three in the fifth and closed out the game.
• Conger and Petran were named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for their performances over the weekend.
• This was Butler's first-ever sweep over Seton Hall.
   
• The Bulldogs have not started BIG EAST play with six-straight wins since 2023 when they won their first eight conference games. (DePaul, Providence, Creighton).

Series History

• St. John's leads: 22-11
• St. John's took the 2025 series, 2-1, in Indianapolis.
• The Red Storm won BIG EAST Tournament games in 2024 and 2023 and swept the 2024 series.
• (The teams did not play a series in 2023.)
• Butler won the 2022 series, 2-1, in Queens and swept the 2021 series in Indianapolis.

SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S (22-10, 3-3 BIG EAST)
BIG EAST series: 1-2 vs. UConn | 2-1 at Georgetown
Additional wins for St. John's include Columbia (3), Army (2), Harvard (2), Campbell (2), Southern Mississippi (2), Central Michigan, and Fordham.
Additional losses for the Red Storm include East Carolina (2), and Stetson (2).
 
2026 ST. JOHN'S stats* compared to (Butler)
Avg. .299, (.331), Runs 168 (172), Hits 271 (214), RBI 149 (161), SB 27 (44), ERA 3.26 (5.79)