BROOKINGS – The South Dakota State softball team was on a roll. They had won 10 of their last 12 games before their season abruptly ended because of the coronavirus.

The Jacks were playing in the 2020 Spring Games in Madeira, Florida, when the NCAA announced the cancellation of all spring sports season’s. SDSU head coach Krista Wood said the news of the cancellation was tough, but they knew it had to be done.

“We were all just in shock because we were down in Florida and we were playing and starting to click. My main message to the girls was ‘yeah softball is important, but the health of our families and our student athletes is more important. This is across the country, so we need to do what’s best for everybody and right now we have to put softball to the side.’ As young athletes and young college kids it’s hard for them to understand that because they’re so young and softball is everything to them. … I think this will help them appreciate the times we do have together,” Wood said.

SDSU was 15-8 on the season and was in first place in the Summit League with conference play about to begin. They were hitting .286 as a team and were outscoring opponents 110-77. They were second in the Summit League in both batting average and runs scored and were first in the conference in runs given up.

“We were just starting to click defensively,” Wood said “Our pitchers were getting more confident on the mound. I think our hitters were learning strike zone a little bit better and were swinging at good pitches. We were just kind of starting to click as a team and were really starting to find more of a lineup that was more productive and people were starting to settle into their roles,” Wood said.

The Jacks only had one senior on the team in infielder Paige Gerdes. She played in 15 games, starting in seven of them, and hit .280 with two home runs and four runs batted in. 

The NCAA is going to vote on March 30 whether seniors in winter and spring sports will receive an extra year of eligibility. It is expected that spring sports seniors will get the extra year. Wood said her and Gerdes have not discussed if she will come back for another season.

“I think more importantly right now is for her to be home with her family and be safe. Until the NCAA comes out with the guidelines and what those stipulations are, I think that’s a conversation for the future,” Wood said. 

Freshman Cylie Halvorson led SDSU in hitting. Halvorson played in 22 of the 23 games this season and was second in the Summit League in batting average hitting .406. She had two home runs and had 19 RBI’s. Sophomore Kelsey Lennox led the team in home runs and RBI’s with seven home runs and 23 RBI’s.

Freshman pitcher Grace Glanzer led the way for SDSU in the circle. She posted a 12-2 record with a 1.73 earned run average. She led the team in strikeouts with 74.

The Jackrabbits had a very young team this season as they only had five upperclassmen. Wood said her underclassmen learned a lot in the 23 games they played this season.

“We’re very athletic and very versatile. We have a lot of players that can play a lot of positions. We have speed and power. We have right handed hitters and left handed hitters. … With us having a lot of pitchers we were able to throw different pitchers at different teams pending their strengths. Our kids are hungry and their learning. They were like sponges. There was so much they learned,” Wood said. 

Returning 21 of their 22 players and adding some freshmen should bode well for the Jacks next sesason. Wood said her players can’t get complacent though and need to continue to improve during the offseason.

“Being young, I think it’s going to be really important to maintain our strength and conditioning. Our sophomores who had already trained one year, you could see the difference in their strength and conditioning. I think that’s going to be important as a young team growing into what I think you could consider now is a little bit, not an older team, but we’re going to have 10 juniors next year, seven sophomores and six freshman,” Wood said.