Completed Event: Softball versus Augustana on October 5, 2025 ,
/
FINAL
Softball
vs Augustana
South Dakota State University Athletics
Friday, February 9
Cedar Falls, Iowa
10:15 am.
South Dakota State University
vs
UMKC
Photo by: Laura Mullen
Softball opens season at UNI Dome Tournament
2/7/2018 12:00:00 PM | Softball
| Â GAMES 1-5: South Dakota State (0-0) at UNI Dome Tournament |
| Â When | Â Friday, Feb. 9 | vs. UMKC (10:15 a.m.);Â vs. Southeast Missouri State (12:30 p.m.) Â Saturday, Feb. 10 | at Northern Iowa (5 p.m.); vs. Drake (7:15 p.m.) Â Sunday, Feb. 11 | vs. Green Bay (9:30 a.m.) |
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|  Where |  UNI Dome | Cedar Falls, Iowa | |
|  Live Video |  ESPN3/WatchESPN (Northern Iowa Game Only) | |
| Â Live Stats | Â UMKCÂ | Southeast Missouri State | Northern Iowa | Drake | Green Bay | |
| Â Game Notes | Â South Dakota State | |
| Â Social Media | Â Twitter | Facebook | #GRIT | |
Weekend Outlook
The 2018 Jackrabbit softball season begins this weekend (Feb. 9-11) at the UNI Dome Tournament in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Jackrabbits will play five games over the three-day event and are making their third straight appearance in the invitational. SDSU is 6-16 all-time at the UNI Dome Tournament over five total appearances (2007-09, 2015-16).
SDSU opens the weekend with two games Friday, taking on UMKC and Southeast Missouri State at 10:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., respectively. Day two of the event features a pair of evening games for the Jacks, taking on host Northern Iowa at 5 p.m., followed by a 7:15 p.m. showdown with Drake. The Jackrabbits close the event Sunday at 9:30 a.m. against Green Bay.
South Dakota State is 24-24 all-time in season openers, and 5-9 at the Division I level (since 2004).
2018 Season Preview
Fourth-year head coach Krista Wood will lead South Dakota State into the 2018 season. The Jackrabbits went 19-35 last season, making the Summit League Tournament for the fourth year in a row. State had been to the tournament only twice before Wood's arrival.
The Jackrabbits hit .262 as a team last season and finished among the best in the Summit League for triples (second), doubles (third) and home runs (fourth). State returns 14 from last year's roster, including eight position starters and Madison Hope in the circle, who appeared in 31 games for the Jackrabbits and posted a 3.95 ERA. She threw 85 total innings and logged 38 strikeouts.
SDSU closed the season with a 4.04 team ERA, showing continued improvement in the circle over Wood's tenure. In 2014, the Jacks had a 6.03 combined ERA and lowered it to 4.31 in 2015. The Jackrabbits struck out 223 as a team and allowed 149 walks while leading the league with only 36 home runs allowed.
Ali Herdliska, an All-Summit League First Team pick and two-time Summit League Player of the Week last year, enters her junior season as already one of the top offensive performers in Jackrabbit history. Through two seasons, Herdliska ranks in the top 10 for career home runs (22), hit by pitches (10) and putouts (738) while holding school single-season records in slugging percentage (.725 in 2016), home runs (16 in 2016), total bases (108 in 2016) and walks (34 in 2016). Her 2017 totals in those categories all rank among the top 10, and her 18 doubles a year ago is the second-most in school history. Herdliska hit .338 a year ago and had two triples, six home runs and 36 RBIs.
Brittney Morse was an All-Summit League pick from a year ago, appearing in 52 games with 56 starts for the Jacks. She hit .247 on the year with nine doubles and a team-best seven home runs. The Houston, Texas native tallied 26 runs batted in and worked seven walks. She will look to copy her season debut from a year ago, where the senior hit .400 (6-for-16) over five starts at the UNI Dome Tournament and blasted four homes en route to earning Summit League Player of the Week honors.
Yanney Ponce started 39 games (with 40 appearances) a year ago and hit .297 with four doubles and a home run. She posted six multi-hit games, and provided a solid glove in the middle infield with 61 putouts and 67 assists, committing only seven errors.
Julia Andersen was one of two Jackrabbits to start all 54 games last year, splitting time between center and right field. Andersen hit .261 at the plate with nine doubles, two home runs and two tripels. She racked up 18 RBI and led all outfielders in putouts (78) and assists (six).
Abbey Murphy appeared in 53 games for SDSU last season at second base, but will transition to the outfield for this season. The senior hit .243 last year with a .301 on-base mark, posting four doubles and four home runs. She has been hit by 13 pitches in her career, ranking her second in the Jackrabbit record books.
Mallory McQuistan, Danielle Steffo and Morse shared time behind the plate all season and are back as upperclassman in 2018. McQuistan started 42 games and went 32-for-113 (.283) in the batter's box with six doubles, five home runs and 10 walks. Steffo started 15 games and hit .266 with two doubles and 13 RBIs.
Erin Mullen and Baily Janssen rotated at third base much of last year, and will be two veteran presences in the lineup for 2018. Mullen made 36 appearances last year and scored 12 runs with three doubles, two home runs and a .235 batting average. Janssen logged time in 39 games (33 at third base) and finished with a .220 average, scoring eight runs with four doubles and eight walks.
Lyndsey Crist appeared in 48 games last year and led the team with 23 walks. She finished with a .197 average and had six doubles and three home runs. Her speed on the bases provided a spark as well as the Lincoln, Nebraska native paced the squad with eight stolen bases in 10 attempts. She was a First Team all-league pick in 2016.
Dana Chavez is back for her senior season after appearing in 24 games last year. She hit .200 and had a triple, and this offseason was named as SDSU's February Strength and Conditioning Female Athlete of the Month.
Paige Gerdes is the lone sophomore on the roster but brings experience after logging 27 appearances a year ago. Gerdes hit .208 last year with three doubles and a home run.
Megan Rushing, a junior transfer from Des Moines Area Community College, brings a fresh face to the infield after earning First Team All-Region honors both years in junior college. Rushing left DMACC as the all-time leader in walks (89) and last year went 46-for-126 (.365) at the plate with 35 RBIs.
The 2018 pitching battery will see the most faces, with freshmen Taylor Compton, Kendra Conard and Olivia Douglas set to make their debuts in the circle this weekend.
Compton (Baxter Springs, Kansas) posted a 0.95 career ERA in high school and left Kansas as the all-time leader in strikeouts (886) and wins (80) while being named All-State four times.
Douglas (Hastings, Nebraska) graduated early and enrolled at SDSU for the spring semester. She was a three-time All-State First Team pick and won 28 games as a season with a 1.50 ERA.
Conard (South Lake Tahoe, California) was a two-time All-State selection in high school. She tallied 187 strikeouts with a 0.84 ERA as a senior in the circle, and at the plate hit .702.
Jacks Picked Fourth in Summit League Poll
South Dakota State was picked fourth in the 2018 Summit League Preseason Coaches Poll, released early February by the league office. The Jacks earned the No. 6 seed in the 2017 Summit League Championships and carry an experienced lineup into the 2018 season.
State has with 13 returners on the roster, including eight position starters and a starting pitcher. The Jacks will blend 14 upperclassman (five seniors, nine juniors) with a promising group of underclassman.
SDSU received 14 votes in the poll, three behind South Dakota, who had 17 points and one first-place vote. Atop the poll, reigning league champion North Dakota State is first with five first-place votes and 25 points, while Western Illinois garnered 20 tallies for second.
Herdliska Named a Player to Watch
For the second consecutive season, Ali Herdliska was named a Player to Watch for The Summit League, announced preseason alongside the coaches poll.
Herdliska, an All-Summit League performer from 2017, is back for her junior campaign after leading the Jackrabbits with a .338 average last year, starting all 54 games. The infielder racked up 18 doubles, six home runs and 36 RBIs while drawing 18 walks on the season.
Smarty Jacks
South Dakota State was one of 149 Division I softball programs to earn a spot on the 2017 Easton / National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Academic Teams award list. The rankings recognize the academic prowess of softball teams across seven membership divisions within the NFCA.
The Jackrabbits had a 2016-17 team grade point average of 3.016 with 11 team members boasting GPAs above the 3.00 mark.
For the 2017 fall semester, State posted a 3.47 combined GPA with 18 of 20 student-athletes logging a plus-3.0 grade point average.
New Face in the Dugout
While head coach Krista Wood and assistant Shannon Pivovar are in their fourth season leading the Jacks, a new face has joined the coaching ranks for the 2018 season. Kristi Villar was added as an assistant coach of the summer and brings more than nine years of collegiate coaching experience to the program. She spent the last seven years at Northern State, where she won over 160 games while building a program that had previously never won more than 20 games before her arrival. The Oakdale, Minnesota native won 20 or more games four times, and helped the team to its first 30-win season while earning 2015 NSIC Coach of the Year honors.
Prior to NSU, she worked for two seasons (2007-09) as a graduate assistant coach at Southwest Minnesota State, where she helped the Mustangs to consecutive NSIC championships and worked with one All-American, three All-Region players and seven All-NSIC picks.
She played collegiate ball at Augustana (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), where she earned All-North Central Conference honors four times in her career and led the team in hitting as a junior and senior.
Nine Signs NLIs with Jackrabbit Softball
South Dakota State softball coach Krista Wood announced nine additions to the Jackrabbit softball program as part of this week's National Signing Day activities.
Olivia Douglas, part of the group, enrolled early and has joined SDSU for the upcoming season, while the other eight newcomers will come to campus fall 2018. Those signees are Caelyn Christiancy (Lincoln, Nebraska), Peyton Daugherty (Ankeny, Iowa), Morgan DeMarais (Buffalo, Minnesota), Emma Hardin (Brookings, South Dakota), Jadelyn Johnson (Battle Ground, Indiana), Kelsey Lenox (Chesterfield, Missouri), Olivia Pfeifer (Hannibal, Missouri) and Allison Yoder (Urbandale, Iowa).
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Players Mentioned
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