Cantu, a Creighton alumnae, is in her fourth season with the Hilltoppers.
During her time as a Bluejay player the Frisco, Texas native graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and was named the 2012 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Newcomer of the Year while earning All-MVC First Team honors in her first season in Omaha. Additionally, Cantu set single-season records for walks and hit-by-pitch at the plate. A prolific home run hitter, Cantu blasted a career-high of 17 homers in 2012 leading to a career total of 33 that stands sixth all-time in Creighton history. Additionally, her career walk total of 110 ranks one shy of the all-time CU mark.
In Cantu’s final season she led the CU squad in batting average, walks and on-base percentage. She also ranked second on the squad with 10 home runs, 30 RBIs and 69 total bases. A 2014 BIG EAST First Teamer and All-Tournament team member, Cantu finished her final campaign in the circle with career bests in ERA, complete games and shutouts, innings pitched, runs allowed, opposing batting average, walks allowed and strikeouts.
With a very successful career at Creighton from (2012-14), Cantu began her coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at Arkansas Tech in fall 2014. During her first year with the Golden Suns, Cantu earned a Master’s degree in College Student Personnel and assisted the Suns hitters and pitching staff. She helped the team claim its first selection to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship. The 2015 Golden Suns pitching staff posted 67 more strikeouts, added six saves, and giving up 5 less hits despite playing 5 more games. Additionally, Tech became the 3rd team in program history to win 40 or more games in 2015.
With one year of experience Cantu returned home to her alma mater, in the fall of 2015 as an assistant coach. Cantu helped Creighton’s pitching staff post an ERA of 3.55, and lead the BIG EAST with 328 strikeouts compared to a league-low of 102 walks. Two of her pitchers ended the season third in the BIG EAST with a 2.74 ERA and fifth in the league in strikeouts (140). Whitney and Eck also became just the third duo in Creighton history to each have 100 or more punchouts in the same season.
Cantu's time at the Hilltop has helped the team and pitching staff improve tremendously, dropping the pitching staff ERA nearly three points from 2018 to 2019. The staff also refined their stats in WHIP, SHO, walks, strikeouts, batting average against, wild pitches and hit by pitch. During the 2019 season Julisa Ortega and Mikayla Parker recorded Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Week recognitions, Reagan Carter shutout then ranked #2 nationally Texas A&M-Commerce and Ortega posted 11 strikeouts against Rogers State.
Cantu graduated from Creighton in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and earned her Master of Science in college student personnel from Arkansas Tech in 2017. She is the daughter of Ricardo and Debra Cantu. Alexis currently resides in Austin, Texas with her dog Bane.
