FARGO, N.D. – The record-breaking season continues.

South Dakota State rallied through the loser’s bracket to win the Summit League Softball Championship title – the first in program history – over the weekend at Tharaldson Field at the Ellig Sports Complex.

“I’m super proud of this team,” said SDSU head coach Krista Wood. “We’ve been talking about this and working toward this goal from Day 1, and it’s just really cool to see it come true and see all their hard work and the dedication that they’ve had to this team really pay off.”

The top-seeded Jackrabbits avenged an opening loss to Kansas City with a 7-0 victory Friday.

They then beat No. 2 Omaha 9-0 (five innings) and 4-2 in the final of the double-elimination tournament Saturday.

“I think we all felt a little pressure (after losing on Thursday), whether it was the coaches or the players,” Wood added. “We have a lot of kids that have never even played in a conference tournament that were out on the field. And going in as the No. 1 seed, we had never done that before.

“So we just felt a little pressure in that first game.

“The one thing that we’ve been really good at all year is bouncing back from losses. It was a struggle in Game 2 versus (North Dakota) – it was good to scratch out a win there.

“And then, I thought, after that we worked some stuff out and talked through some things and we were ready to go at it against UMKC.”

Jocelyn Carrillo, who has reached base safely in 18 consecutive games, was named Championship MVP. She finished the tourney 8-for-14 with three homers, two doubles and six RBIs.

SDSU (42-6) faces Stanford in the NCAA Tournament Fayetteville (Ark.) Regional on Friday at 2:30 p.m. No. 6 Arkansas takes on Manhattan in the other game. The double-elimination regional runs through Sunday.

Note: SDSU appeared in the title game for the second time in program history, the other occurrence coming in 2018.

Saturday

Final No. 2

• SDSU 4, UNO 2

Tori Kniesche (21-1) tossed a six-hitter, allowing two runs, as the Jackrabbits clinched the title. She struck out 10 and walked a pair.

Lindsey Culver came through with an RBI double in the second. She advanced to third on the play and then scampered home on Cheyanne Masterson’s sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

Emma Osmundson came through with a run-scoring two-bagger in the third.

Culver, who ended up 3-for-3, pushed the margin to 4-0 with a solo homer in the fourth.

“We fought hard and we knew that we had to continue to keep scoring and continue to keep playing,” Wood said. “When you come off a big win like 9-0, sometimes it’s hard to have a different mindset coming in because now it’s 0-0 again.

“I thought we did a good job. We stayed in it. UNO is a good team and they’ve been playing really well and I knew they weren’t going to give up. I did get a little nervous in that seventh inning but I knew our kids were focused, they were fighting out there together and that we were going to figure it out somehow.”

Peyton Daugherty also ended up 3-for-3, logging a double.

The Mavericks’ Jamie White hit a two-run homer in the sixth and UNO got the go-ahead run to the plate with no outs in the top of the seventh. However, Kniesche used an infield popout, a strikeout and a line out to end it.

Sydney Nuismer took the loss in the circle after surrendering four runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and a pair of walks.

Final No. 1

• SDSU 9, UNO 0 (5 inn.)

Kelsey Lenox sparked the offense with a first-inning grand slam as the Jackrabbits dominated the Mavericks.

“That set the tone for the day. I mean, it really did,” Wood noted. “To come up in the first inning with the bases loaded and hit that grand slam, it just made everybody have that much more confidence – every hitter, our defense, our pitchers. It gave us a cushion from the get-go.

“I 100 percent think that set the tone for the day and we knew at that point, when that happened, that we were going to win.”

Lenox totaled five RBIs in the game.

Grace Glanzer (18-4) spun a three-hit shutout, logging one strikeout and a walk.

Cylie Halvorson hit a three-run homer in the second. She broke the single-season program record for home runs (17) in the process.

Lenox then went deep again and Jocelyn Carrillo later scored to push the margin to 9-0 after just two innings.

Peyton Daugherty went 3-for-3 with two runs scored.

Halvorson, Lenox and Emma Osmundson each finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

Friday

• SDSU 7, UMKC 0

Jocelyn Carrillo racked up five RBIs and Grace Glanzer scattered eight hits in the shutout, striking out four without issuing a walk.

Carrillo got it going with a three-run home run in the opening frame.

Caelyn Christiancy scored in the third.

Lindsey Culver went deep in the fourth and Carrillo capped her big game with a two-run shot in the fifth.