Jacks bow out of Independent Tournament

Saturday, April 28

Atlanta, Ga.

11 a.m.

South Dakota State University

Cal State Bakersfield

Softball tournament at Evansville cancelled

4/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball

By: SDSU Sports Info

KENNESAW, Ga. ? South Dakota State beat Cal State Bakersfield 1-0 and loss to Northern Colorado 2-0 to wrap up pool play at the Kennesaw State/Independent Tournament on Saturday in Kennesaw, Ga. with a 1-3, earning them the fourth seed in tournament play.

The fourth and fifth seeds then played a third game on Saturday, the second between the Jackrabbits and Roadrunners, but the Jacks could not pull out a second win against the Runners, and bowed out of the tournament with an 8-2 loss.

The Jackrabbits first game of the day against Cal State Bakersfield went scoreless into the fourth inning, before the SDSU cracked the scoreboard.

Brittany Postma reached on a fielder's choice and quickly stole her 20th base of the season to get into scoring position.

Two batters later, and with two outs, Dani Broshar came through with an RBI single into left field, scoring the speedy Postma from second for the game's only run.

Jackrabbit starter Jenna Marston took over from there and shut down the roadrunners on the way to her 10th win of the season. Marston scattered five hits over seven innings, striking out five and walking none.

Broshar and Amanda Fedson got the only two hits for the Jacks, who improve to 1-2 in pool play and 14-30 with the win.

SDSU squared off against former North Central Conference foe Northern Colorado in its fourth and final pool play game, but came up on the short end of a 2-0 game.

The Jacks started to get something going in the bottom of the third inning, when Amanda Fedson started the frame with a single into right field.

After a Jessica Vineyard sacrifice bunt advanced Fedson to second, a Brooke Postma single moved her to third base.

Postma then broke the SDSU single-season stolen base record when she stole second to put runners at second and third for Denise Leon, who laid a bunt down the third base side, but UNC third baseman Cassandra Avila threw Fedson out at home.

The Bears sat down the next two SDSU batters in order, end the Jacks only real threat of the game.

UNC then plated single runs in the fifth and seventh innings to secure the win.

Marston went the distance for the Jacks, giving up nine hits, while striking out three and walking five on her way to the loss.

The Jacks finished pool play with a 1-3 record, earning them the fourth seed, which means they played a third game on Saturday and a second against Cal State Bakersfield, who earned the fifth seed.

Facing elimination, the South Dakota State capitalized on a Cal State Bakersfield error in the bottom of the third inning. Jessica Vineyard reached on an error and then advanced to second on a Brooke Postma sacrifice bunt.

An Amanda Fedson single to left scored Vineyard, and the Jacks jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.

That lead did not last long though, as the Roadrunners answered with four runs in the top of the fourth to take a 4-1 lead.

CSUN came back with three more in the fifth, thanks to a Carrie Hilvers three-run bomb over the fence in left field.

The Runners tacked on another run in the sixth to go up 8-1, before Steph Kuhl gave the Jacks one more run in the seventh, with her fifth home run of the season and SDSU best 25th of her career.

The loss, which eliminates SDSU from the tournament, drops the Jackrabbits to 14-32 on the season.

The Jacks return to action on Tuesday at the Jackrabbit Softball Stadium when they host Dakota State, and wrap-up the 2007 season on Thursday against former North Central Conference foe St. Cloud.