BROOKINGS – Tuesday was a unique day for the South Dakota State softball team.
The Jackrabbits played a home game for the first time this season; it also marked their regular-season finale.
SDSU split a nonconference doubleheader with North Dakota, winning the opener 8-2 and dropping the nightcap 3-1.
“Our kids came out excited,” said fourth-year SDSU coach Krista Wood. “There were just a lot of emotions – I mean, Senior Day, first home game, last home game, finals week. It was good, but a lot of emotions put into one day.”
The games were originally scheduled to be played nearly a month earlier on April 3.
At least these two were contested at Jackrabbit Stadium. SDSU was forced to play its other “home” games – the ones that weren’t canceled – in Sioux Falls and Omaha due to a wintery spring.
Despite playing 44 of their 46 games outside Brookings, the Jackrabbits still had a record-breaking campaign. They take a 32-14 record into the Summit League Championship and will either be the No. 1 or 2 seed.
“It’s been fun,” Wood said of the road games. “Our kids have been really resilient in the fact that we’re on the road all the time. Fun bus trips and we’ve been making the most of it. … I think our kids have kind of embraced our road trips and not made them what you would consider to be a bad thing, but made everything into a good thing.”
SDSU did not play a game in Brookings during the 2013 season.
Game 1
• SDSU 8, UND 2
The Jackrabbits put up a six-spot in the second inning, which was more than enough support for starting pitcher Madison Hope.
Hope (19-6) tossed a seven-hitter, giving up just one earned run and striking out four batters while not issuing a walk.
The Jackrabbits sent nine batters to the plate in the big second frame.
Lyndsey Crist singled and Megan Rushing doubled to get it going. Dana Chavez put SDSU on the scoreboard with a two-run single.
Baily Janssen was then hit by a pitch. With one out, Abbey Murphy had an RBI hit to make it 3-0.
After Julia Andersen walked, Ali Herdliska drove in in Janssen with a fielder’s choice.
Brittney Morse’s two-run double pushed the margin to 6-0.
The Jackrabbits added a run in the third as Chavez drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a groundout and eventually scored on a throwing error.
The Fighting Hawks scored both their runs in the fifth.
Natalie Gerber plated pinch-runner Deja Miller with a groundout and Taylor Nadler added a two-out RBI single.
In the sixth inning, Murphy singled, Andersen reached on a fielder’s choice, and Herdliska and Morse added a hit apiece to load the bases. Rushing was hit by a pitch with two away to force in Andersen and provide for the final margin.
Murphy, Morse and Rushing each had a pair of hits.
For UND, Nadler and Kaylin VanDomelen both doubled and singled.
Nikki Pica took the loss after surrendering seven runs on six hits and three walks in two-plus innings. Hannah Bergh allowed one run on four hits with a strikeout over the final four frames.
Game 2
• UND 3, SDSU 1
Hannah Bergh (11-10) threw 6 2/3 innings of three-hit ball, allowing one run with three strikeouts and a pair of walks, as the Fighting Hawks (23-25) salvaged a split.
“We just couldn’t get anything going offensively,” said Wood. “She was kind of on today; her changeup was thrown for a strike and we just couldn’t get any offense going.”
UND’s Dani Romero led off the third inning with a single and Kaylin VanDomelen followed with a fielder’s choice before Alicia Young walked.
No. 9 hitter Victoria Minor opened the scoring with an RBI double and Lexi Mayhood followed with a two-run two-bagger to make it 3-0.
The Jackrabbits put together a two-out rally in the seventh as Abbey Murphy drew a walk and quickly scored on Julia Andersen’s double to right-center field.
VanDomelen came on in relief and needed just one pitch to induce a game-ending groundout.
SDSU’s Taylor Compton gave up three runs on four hits with five strikeouts and four walks in a complete-game performance in the circle.
Record-breaking year
At 32-14, the Jackrabbits broke the school record for wins in a season in the Division I era. It marks the second winning season over that span, the other coming in Year 1 of transition – 30-29 in 2005.
The win total is the second highest in program history, as the 1996 squad went 43-22 at the Division II level.
“Our offense has really driven our team all year,” Wood noted. “We thrive off of big innings and I think our pitching has been better; I mean, all-around we’ve been better in every aspect of the game. What really drives our team is our offense.”
SDSU has shattered the school records for RBIs (289) and hits (426) in a season – the previous marks were 248 RBIs and 324 hits. The Jackrabbits have a school-record 83 doubles this year.
And, with 318 runs, the Jackrabbits are closing in on another record as the 1996 squad put up 324. They entered the day leading all Division I teams in scoring with 7.02 runs per game.
The Jackrabbits have posted a top-five home run total in each of Wood’s four seasons at the helm. They hit a record 53 in 2016 and 49 in 2015, while this year’s club currently sits in third with 44. SDSU had 32 in 2017.
Brittney Morse
With a pair of RBIs in Game 1, the senior pushed her single-season record total to 58 entering the postseason. The previous record was 50.
Ali Herdliska
The junior is on pace to break the career records for home runs (35) and RBIs (131).
She’s currently second with 35 homers and third with 118 runs driven in.
Herdliska and Morse share the team lead with 10 round-trippers apiece this season – tied for the fifth most in a year for a Jackrabbit. Herdliska has 37 RBIs in 2018.
Herdliska exploded onto the scene as a freshman in 2016 with a school-record-tying 16 bombs.
Still in contention
South Dakota State went 10-4 in Summit League play – its best winning percentage since joining the conference in 2008 – and could still win the regular-season title.
“It was fun; it was competitive,” said Wood. “We don’t know what’s going to happen because we have a bye week, but we’re crossing our fingers that we can maybe finish first. But it’s nice to get the 1 or 2 seed knowing that we have a bye in the first round.”
First-place Western Illinois (9-3) and third-place North Dakota State (7-3) play a three-game set this weekend.
If the Bison go 2-1, the Jackrabbits take the title and earn the No. 1 seed.
If WIU goes 2-1 or 3-0, it wins the championship; and if NDSU posts a three-game sweep, it finishes on top.
The Jackrabbits can’t finish lower than the No. 2 seed – their previous best finish in the regular-season standings was fourth in 2010.
SDSU took two out of three at Western Illinois last weekend and split a doubleheader with NDSU on April 12 in Sioux Falls, with the third game getting canceled due to a blizzard. The Bison also had a league game against Omaha canceled this season.
The Summit League Softball Championship begins Wednesday, May 9, and runs through Saturday, May 12, in Fargo, N.D.
“That’s what we just talked about; anything can happen in the conference tournament,” added Wood. “If our offense can get hot, I think we have a good shot at going in there and doing some damage.”
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE SOFTBALL – DIVISION I ERA
(Summit League record/standing in parenthesis)
Coach: Shane Bouman, three years, 71-97
2005 – 30-29
2006 – 24-36
2007 – 17-32
Coach: Joanna Lane, four years, 59-141 (35-50)
2008 – 17-27 (9-9, 5th of 9)
2009 – 10-41 (6-17, 8th of 9)
*2010 – 19-32 (11-9, 4th of 9)
2011 – 13-41 (9-15, 7th of 9)
Coach: Kim Aggabao, two years, 29-57-1 (11-33)
2012 – 13-27-1 (5-16, 8th of 9)
2013 – 16-30 (6-17, 8th of 9)
Coach: Alex Happ, one year, 11-36 (2-16)
*2014 – 11-36 (2-16, 7th of 7)
Coach: Krista Wood, fourth year, 96-111 (29-37)
*2015 – 23-29 (7-11, 5th of 7)
*2016 – 23-34 (8-10, 5th of 7)
*2017 – 19-35 (4-12, 6th of 7)
*2018 – 32-14 (10-4, 1st or 2nd of 6)
14 seasons – 267-443 (77-136)
*Summit League Championship qualifier (eligible in 2009; tourney field expanded from four to six teams in 2014)
Note: SDSU is 1-8 all-time in five Summit League Championship appearances – 0-2 in 2010 and 2014, 1-2 in 2015, and 0-1 in 2016 and 2017.
Register photo: South Dakota State’s Megan Rushing, the reigning Summit League Player of the Week, rips a double to left field during the second inning of the Jackrabbits’ 8-2 victory over North Dakota in Game 1 of a nonconference doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at Jackrabbit Stadium.
