Softball Drops Rubber Game at Western Illinois

Saturday, March 26

Macomb, Ill.

11:00 AM

South Dakota State University

11-19, 0

Western Illinois

9-22, 0

South Dakota State

Western Illinois

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

3/26/2016 1:46:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

By: Ryan Sweeter

MACOMB, Ill. – South Dakota State held a 7-6 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning on Saturday in the rubber game against Western Illinois, but the Fighting Leathernecks scored the two runs they needed for an 8-7 walk-off win.The loss drops the Jackrabbits to 11-19 on the season overall, and to 1-2 in Summit League play, while the hosts improve to 9-22 overall and to 2-1 in league play.

Down 3-0 after one complete, SDSU plated three runs in the top of the second to tie the contest at 3-3. Ali Herdliska led off the inning with her third home run of the series, and Yanney Ponce delivered a two-RBI double later in the frame to knot the game at 3-3.

Western Illinois got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead at 4-3, but the Jackrabbits tied it again, this time at 4-4, in the fifth on a Lauren Chirnside sacrifice that scored Christian McKone.

Still tied at 4-4 in the sixth, the Leathernecks scored two runs to go up 6-4, only to see the Jacks fire back with three runs in the top of the seventh; with RBI doubles from Abbey Murphy and Lyndsey Crist and an RBI single from Danielle Steffo that put SDSU up 7-6 heading into the final stanza.

The Leathernecks opened their half of the seventh with a single, followed by an error, and both of those runners scored two batters later on a double that ended the game.

The Jackrabbits look to get back on the winning track on Tuesday, when they travel to Lincoln, Neb., for a single game at Nebraska, followed by a doubleheader at Creighton on Wednesday in Omaha. The Jacks and Cornhuskers get started at 6 p.m.